


A Lingering Shadow

by impish_nature



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Dreams, Dreamsharing, Friendship, M/M, Mavin, Nightmares, RageHappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-06
Updated: 2013-09-18
Packaged: 2017-12-14 03:42:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 51,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/832297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/impish_nature/pseuds/impish_nature
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A shadow haunts Gavin’s dreams and always has, but what does he do when the shadow changes? What if it’s not all in his head? And what does it have to do with Michael?</p>
<p>(Prompt from tumblr, links below)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A shadow forms

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt: http://diveintotheragehappy.tumblr.com/post/40843047951/another-prompt-because-i-honestly-cant-write-it
> 
> So I saw this and my brain came up with an idea so I hope it’s ok/it hasn’t already been done. If so please link to me because this idea is awesome and I’d like to read ♥ and if not I hope you enjoy this ^^
> 
> First mavin fic, let’s see how this goes~ Imp x

 

 

-After podcast #181 (I think, please correct if I’m wrong)-

 

“So, do you have those kinds of dreams often, Gavin? Not the acting like a psycho part obviously otherwise you wouldn’t have been so weirded out by your own actions.”

Gavin looked up at his grinning friend from his seat, an odd frown marring his face, one that his friend hadn’t expected given the teasing nature of his question. “Where I can control the dream? No, not really.” He stopped himself from adding to that sentence. He did dream a lot but no, not those kinds of dreams.

He didn’t even know if they could be counted as dreams.

~~~~

He could always remember the first time he’d had his reoccurring dream. Not the date, or how old he was or anything like that because it almost felt like it was his earliest memory, it had always been there. Even though he didn’t know if it counted as a memory and thinking about that just hurt his brain so he ignored that thought process and settled for what he did know. One time he’d fallen asleep and suddenly  _he_  was there.

The shadow.

Or that’s what he called him; he had no other words for him.

He’d looked around a dimly lit area and there he was, a shadowy figure who looked about his age, looking in the opposite direction. Gavin had called out to him, unaware that at that moment that he had anything to worry about. He just seemed lonely and being a child, he hadn’t yet learnt about approaching people and his dream self had even less of a notion to care at that moment especially as it just seemed like a kid his age.

That is until the boy jumped and paid attention, turning around as if surprised to see him. That was when Gavin had started to get nervous. There were no features to discern, no eyes, no mouth, nothing but darkness. It was like someone had got a hold of the boys shadow and made it 3D, which is why Gavin had nicknamed him that and it stuck, even as he got older and thought it was unoriginal. Unable to help it, he side stepped a few times, watching the shadow’s head follow him.

_How did he do that when he didn’t have eyes?_

Gavin jumped back as the shadow waved at him and gestured him closer. When he didn’t do anything, the gestures became more frantic as if it was urgent that he come and see him. The boy stomped before gesturing at his mouth and then at Gavin. It took a while for Gavin to realise.

“No, I can’t hear you. Can you hear me?” Gavin relaxed as the boy nodded. It wasn’t that the boy was panicking; he was just frustrated that he couldn’t get his message through. He took a step closer again; glad when the boy just stretched a hand out instead of his earlier flailing motions. He kept walking forward, ignoring the small alarm bell in favour of making a new friend. As he got closer, he got scared again, like the figure was something he should stay away from. Like the bogeyman his mum always warned him would come and get him if he wasn’t good. His eyes flickered to the shadow as he thought this, feeling something shift. Like thinking the boy was a monster had changed him into one.

His thoughts were confirmed when he stood just out of reach and the boy made a grab for him, his child’s mind seeing the hand reaching for him as a claw and he fell backwards out of the way. The boy didn’t follow him though, instead hitting a barrier. It paused for a second, Gavin watching him trace an invisible wall that stood between them before it slammed its hands into it for good measure and looked up as if it was howling in rage. Gavin didn’t take the chance to stand up and check the wall for himself, using the moment to propel himself away from it all, effectively waking up from the dream with a start.

Gavin always woke up shaking after the dream, even as an adult when he was used to it, even when every single time he was stuck there he knew it was just a nightmare and that he would wake up from it. Sometimes he wouldn’t have the dream for weeks, sometimes every night for an extended period and yet every time was almost the same. The shadowy figure, a small dimly lit area that sometimes let the figure seem more human, as if he was just standing in shadows instead of being one himself and the barrier between them all stayed mostly the same. The actions of the figure changed though; sometimes it would just watch him, other times it would charge blindly at the barrier as if it could break it. The worst times, in Gavin’s opinion, were when it just held out its hand to him as if pleading with him to just try and pass through the barrier himself because it couldn’t. It also grew along with him, ageing, growing taller though soon Gavin was taller and he wasn’t quite sure whether to still be afraid or not, whether as it was just a dream he should just reach out a hand and try and get through the barrier, to see what was on the other side with the shadowy figure. Those times when he started to doubt himself and what he was doing, usually had the shadow gesturing more frantically again as if it knew it was winning and then Gavin would remember the first time again with the clawed hand lashing out at him and he’d realise he was right to stay away.

It wasn’t until a long time later that the dreams started to change. Gavin had grown up, joined Roosterteeth without any worries about the dream, passing it off as a childish fear that came to haunt him once in a while. Geoff vaguely knew about them from the times he’d woken up in the night but he’d brushed off the questioning, knowing in himself that it was no big deal, just something he lived with. Something his twisted brain had forced upon him since childhood.

 

And then Michael Jones had entered his life.

 

And the shadow took a step forward.


	2. A step in the right direction

 

 

The realisation that the dream changing coincided with Michael’s entrance into Roosterteeth took a long time for Gavin.

The day started out great, he’d met a new person that had turned out to be a great guy. He’d been nervous to begin with, after all he’d only really heard about him from the rage quits he’d done and they were hardly comforting. In actual fact Michael had turned out to be nervous himself, obviously also dubious about how they were going to respond to him. It wasn’t long before Gavin was having fun annoying the hell out of him and getting shouted at in turn but it seemed like they both knew it was all a joke, much to Geoff’s confusion.

But then night fell.

Gavin didn’t even think about his dream before closing his eyes like he usually did. Didn’t stare up at the ceiling wondering about whether he’d see the shadow that night and hope that he wouldn’t. Instead he just smiled, flopped down on his bed with a dazed expression as he thought about the day that had passed and just how he would rile up Michael the next day. It had been fun to watch the redhead try his hardest not to get annoyed and make a bad impression on his first day and he was already wondering just how far he could push him. Not that he wanted to push him away or anything like that, but Michael would have to get used to him sooner or later and judging by the joking British accents he’d got in return that day he could guess Michael knew exactly how to take him.

He would later curse himself for smiling as he fell asleep.

Gavin looked around with a sigh as he saw the usual empty space and the same figure stood in the exact same spot it always did. “What? Can’t you just leave? It’s not like you can come any closer so why don’t you just leave me alone?” He looked around bored and overconfident for once until he saw the figure’s head tilt as its arm reached out. He froze at it met no resistance and hesitantly took a step forward. He stared in shock, unable to compute what was happening though he could feel himself shake as he locked on to the shadows face. Somehow it seemed like there were even darker areas to it suddenly; two holes for eyes, a gaping mouth that seemed to smirk at it him as if it had found out it could win. The adrenaline kicked in as it tried to take another step and Gavin was no longer watching, just running in the opposite direction, not even caring to glance over his shoulder to see if it was following. He stumbled forward, losing his footing.

And fell out of bed with a sharp intake of breath.

“You ok, Gav?”

Gavin jumped, looking around at his door where Geoff stood looking concerned. “H-huh? Yeah, sure, I’m fine. Sorry, did I wake you?”

“It’s fine.” Geoff looked around before entering the room and closing the door behind them so the others could still sleep. “Is it…you know?”

Gavin gulped before sitting back up on his bed. “Yeah, so it’s fine. The usual.” He tried to laugh it off, the smile dropping as Geoff looked at him seriously. “It just…changed that’s all, it never changes and yet…”

“Oh.” Geoff didn’t really know what else to say to that. “Well if you ever want to, I don’t know, talk about it…”

Gavin looked up at him before laughing. “I’d come to you first, don’t worry but it’s just a dream. It’s not like it can actually hurt me.” He went quiet for a second, shuffling. “Could use a game though to take mind off it, if you’re up for it.”

Geoff blinked, glancing at the time before letting out a soft huff of laughter. “Fuck it, might as well. If it’ll make you feel better.”

“You wouldn’t tell the guys about this, would you?”

Geoff laughed at the suddenly apprehensive look on Gavin’s face. “Have I said anything so far?” He pulled Gavin up and gave him a slap on the back. “Don’t worry, there’s a limit to everything and I think this is yours.”

~~~~

Gavin dreamt again a few days later, steeling his nerves this time to find that the shadow could only take that one extra step. He decided that his resolve must have weakened slightly or something and it had given his dream new leverage that it wasn’t going to get again. The new facial features to the shadow unnerved him more than anything else now, he could see it trying to communicate to him, see its anger and annoyance when he backed up or just didn’t understand. He began to realise just how much his emotions affected the dream. Whenever the shadows features particularly got to him or when it made a sudden movement that had his heart racing as he waited for that barrier to break down entirely, the dream shifted slightly. He could see more than just empty air behind the shadow, just glimpses to begin with, seconds of a completely different world before it went back to empty dark space. He didn’t know if it was an illusion to tempt him to try and get through the barrier or if he just hadn’t been able to see it before, blindly telling himself not to look too closely at anything to do with the shadows presence.  As the dreams went on it became more detailed, the world reminding him of the games they played in real life, wondering whether they were influencing the dream. Soon the world was there almost all of the time behind the barrier, his side still seemed dank and dark and empty whereas the other side almost glowed with thoughts of interesting adventures he could be having. Though then he’d stare right at its centre to see the shadowed figure with its arm outstretched still waiting for him and he’d always stay back, away from the security that he was sure the shadow was trying to lull him into.

But when the talk of dreams came up in the podcast, he decided to use the opportunity (under Geoff’s careful gaze and scrutiny) to see what the others dreamt about, in the hopes someone would come up with something to help him without him actually having to voice anything.

~Back to present~

Gavin looked up again at Michael who was starting to look worried. He cracked a grin. “Sorry, zoned out then. Do you have dreams like that a lot then?” He didn’t look around, knowing Geoff would be watching him. He’d seemed ready to butt in the whole time they’d been talking about dreams in the podcast, just in case Gavin started getting uncomfortable.

“Yeah, I used to.” Michael shrugged, sitting down next to him now that they had some time to chat after the podcast was done filming. “I realised when I was younger that it was easy tell dreams and reality apart so I just messed with shit when I had them.”

“Liar. I bet you have nightmares all the time and you just don’t want to tell me.” Gavin teased, though his heart raced that the tide may turn and the question thrown back at him.

“How do you think I got so good at being Mogar?” Michael looked at him, a cocky expression on his face, trying not to laugh at Gavin’s confusion.

“Wait, what?”

“I dreamt I was in minecraft but well, I’m rubbish at making things so I just attacked everything in sight.” Michael shrugged, still pleased with himself for being able to beat them all fighting wise in that game even if he found it hard to make simple things.

“Did you get stuck on the doors in this version too?” Gavin quipped, grinning as Michael flushed.

“Shut up.” Michael huffed, ignoring the giggles from beside him. “I do have some weird dreams though; it’s the same one every time and happens, fuck, I don’t know, every few weeks, I guess?” He frowned as he felt Gavin stiffen beside him. “You alright there, Gavin?”

“Sure, just weird. Never really met someone else who has reoccurring dreams, that’s all.”

Before Michael could reply, Geoff was standing in front of them. “Off your asses, we’ve got a let’s play to make.”

Michael raised a questioning eyebrow at Geoff as Gavin nodded and stood up, giving him a small thankful smile before walking off. “What was that all about?” He waited, his questioning frown turning into a glare as Geoff ignored him. “Come on, Geoff, you’re not doing a great job of pretending it’s nothing.”

Geoff sighed, shrugging. “It’s nothing, Gavin just wakes up in the middle of the night a lot. He doesn’t really talk about it so I don’t push it. And neither will you, do you hear?”

“You think he suffers from nightmares?” Michael stood up as Geoff still stared at him, waiting. “What, you want me to promise? Fuck, I know we all mock and tease each other but you think I’d want to hurt him and bring up something like that?”

“Yeah, I know, guess I was just worried that you wouldn’t take it seriously and think it’d be fine to pester him like he does with us sometimes.” Geoff shook his head, before smiling. “Come on, let’s go get this over with before Gavin tries to steal the tower because we took too long.”

~~~~

Gavin jumped out of his chair as he won for the first time in ages, dodging Michael as he launched himself at him. For once it had been between the two of them in the last round and he could hear Michael cursing behind him because he lost. He giggled, turning to joke as Michael stomped his foot on the floor in annoyance.

“Wow, that was childish, Michael.”

“Shut the fuck up, Ray, I was so close as well.” Michael flopped back into his chair, before looking up at Gavin. “Well you won fair and square for once, Gav, how does it feel?”

Gavin stared at him, not even noticing the wave he got in front of his face. Instead thinking of a small shadow boy who stomped his foot when Gavin couldn’t hear him and only wanted to get him to understand.

Maybe it was time to get someone else’s opinion on his dreams; he just hoped the person he’d decided on would understand and not think he was crazy. He gulped as he stared at Michael’s back, already nervous of the response he might get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to say that I’m hoping for this to be 4 or 5 parts and just wanted a bit of time where Gavin hadn’t let anyone know/still didn’t know what was going on himself before he started to piece it altogether. Just nervous it’s a slow pace or something thats all ♥ criticism is welcome~ Imp x


	3. Just out of curiosity, that's all

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is getting longer and longer as per usual with my fics... (I thought it’d be about 5 parts but now…6 or 7 at least? ^^;) but I’ll try and write more today so it’s at least not a long wait for anyone still interested in this!

 

 

“Hey, Michael, you think we could talk for a bit?”

Michael looked up at Gavin, wondering what had brought that on. It had been a few days since he’d found out about Gavin’s nightmares and Gavin had been acting odd ever since. Even in this situation the Brit would usually just invade his space and demand attention. But this was different, Gavin fidgeting in front of him as if he didn’t know whether he was making the right decision or not and was contemplating bolting instead. “Of course.” He raised an eyebrow, shifting over to give Gavin room to sit down. “So, what have you done?”

“I haven’t done anything.” Gavin huffed, relaxing slightly as Michael chuckled and gave him a disbelieving look. He glanced around quickly to check they were out of hearing distance of everyone else, he didn’t want everyone to know he was completely crazy. He was taking enough of a risk asking Michael about these things and it had taken long enough to pluck up the courage. That and he knew if Geoff found out he’d been talking to Michael about his nightmares he’d be hurt that Gavin didn’t come to him, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that Michael was the right person to talk to.

“Oh fuck. Seriously, what have you done?”

“I haven’t done anything, now shut your gob!” Gavin’s voice rose in pitch and volume before he looked around and grumbled at the funny looks he was getting. “So much for a private conversation.”

“You’re an idiot. If us two hadn’t at least had one loud moment where they look around and realise it’s us and leave us to it then we’d both be getting suspicious glances for the rest of the day where everyone wondered what we were up to.” Michael quickly glossed over his teasing, glad he could think of a good excuse in the long run now that Gavin was making him feel guilty and worried, though he wouldn’t admit to either if he could help it. “Now spill before you start making me jumpy as well. What’s happened?”

“Nothing’s happened as such…” Gavin sighed, toying with the hem of his shirt as he tried to word everything, his little rehearsed speech slipping out of his brain like water through his hands. “Uhm, you know when we were talking about dreams before? How much do you know about interpretation of them?”

Michael tried not to let on that Geoff had said anything to him. “What you want me to interpret your psycho dream?”

“No…more of a reoccurring night- dream I have?”

“A nightmare?” Michael tried to prompt him gently but he knew instantly he might have said the wrong thing as Gavin bristled.

“Hey! I’m not a wuss or anything. I’m just curious, you know about what it might mean.” Gavin snapped slightly before deflating, a hand running through his hair. “I just wondered if you could…” He left out the word ‘help’ already starting to feel mortified with the conversation. It didn’t help that the dream had been happening a lot lately and his sleep pattern had been knocked for six. He even thought he’d seen the shadow once or twice in the rooster teeth office but each time he’d been told off for going into a daze so he hoped it was just him zoning out from lack of sleep.

“Hey, that’s not what I meant.” Michael raised a hand up. “And I wasn’t going to tease you or anything, everyone has nightmares. Do they keep you up at night?” He waited as Gavin hesitated, fixing him with a glare. “Honestly?” He nodded along with Gavin when he caved and nodded. “Have you spoken to Geoff about this? I mean he probably knows about this if it’s keeping you up. I’m just thinking, he might be a better person to talk to. I’m hardly sympathetic or counselling material, now am I?” He tried to give a reassuring smile as Gavin shuffled under his gaze.

“No, I guess you’re not, you say exactly what you think when you think it.” Gavin grinned at him, though it was a tired grin. “I know Geoff’s worried about me and will be disappointed that I didn’t ask him about it but you seemed like you knew a lot about dreams before so I thought I’d see if you knew anything about interpretations, that’s all.” He went to stand up, feeling suddenly foolish. “If you’re not comfortable with it then don’t worry.”

“Sit down, you idiot. You know if you need help I’m here- not that you need help at all. Just curiosity, right?”

“Yep, I’m just curious. That’s all.” Gavin chuckled, clinging on to the lifeline Michael had thrown him. “So, do reoccurring dreams mean anything just in themselves?”

“Well if you thought I’d researched dreams a ton, you’d be wrong, I just rage quitted the part where I had no control and went from there.” Michael smirked as Gavin gave a disbelieving laugh, the first almost normal laugh he’d given so far. “But maybe you just need a second opinion. Like, I guess if something specific happens in each one then maybe your brains trying to tell you something important. How long have you been having it?”

“Uhm, forever?” Gavin gave him an almost shameful expression. “See, it _used_ to be a nightmare when I was a kid, but even though it’s not so scary anymore I just can’t seem to make it go away.” He suddenly felt too self-conscious about the way he had Michael’s full attention. “You said you have reoccurring dreams too, do you know what they’re telling you?”

“Are you calculating how good of a response I’m going to give you?” Michael squeaked indignantly as Gavin nodded teasingly. “No, I guess I don’t. They’re the only dreams I don’t have full control in so I always just assumed I had them every so often because by brains a bastard and wanted to show I couldn’t have everything I wanted.”

“Maybe it’s trying to make sure you don’t get too cocky.” Gavin joked, cracking up as Michael scowled.

“Yeah well, I’m always stuck in it, like there’s some kind of annoying invisible wall that I keep smacking into.” Michael, still scowling as he thought about it, didn’t even notice Gavin’s face lock in a smile that now almost looked like a grimace. “There’s just one path that I’m not allowed to take but I always try to go that way, annoyingly. Maybe I should try going a different route next time?” He glanced back at Gavin, mocking himself. “Should try something new, right?”

“Why haven’t you before?” Gavin tried to sound normal, not thinking about the shadow trapped behind the barrier.

“Well, there’s something on the other side that I want.” Michael shrugged. “I keep trying to make it come towards me but it never does. There’s this annoying part of my brain that keeps telling me that I’m going to lose whatever it is forever if it doesn’t come through, like it’s in danger. But nothing I ever do makes it want to step forward, if it was only in arms reach I’d pull it through and apologise later.” He rubbed the back of his head, feeling embarrassed. “Mogar likes to be a hero in his dreams, I guess? Or maybe you’re right, maybe it’s to make sure I don’ get cocky. That I can’t do everything.”

“Maybe…is it a person?” Gavin coughed, ignoring the sudden almost painful relief in his chest even though more and more questions were also being piled on top of the scarce amount of answers. The snatching hands of the shadow if he got too close, the anger and viciousness he thought it contained that could be likened to panic and frustration when there were no words to actually go by. He tried not to get ahead of himself. After all, how could Michael enter his dreams? And why would he anyway? Maybe he was just seeing similarities that weren’t even there. He looked over at Michael as he got a funny look. “What? You said you’d apologise and stuff? Or is it some weird talking inanimate object?”

“No, I think it’s a person. I can’t really see them very well. Like an outline? They talk sometimes but it’s muffled and I don’t think they can hear me because I shout myself hoarse at the barrier to try and get them to move their sorry ass over the line.”

“Maybe they just get scared by your potty mouth.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “Yeah maybe, anyway, we’re meant to be talking about your dreams, not mine.” He tried not to let it show that he could tell Gavin was happier for some reason. Maybe he was just happy he wasn’t the only one with odd dreams and that’s what he’d actually been hoping for from Michael. “So?”

“Oh yeah, right, I forgot.” Gavin hummed thoughtfully, wondering how to say things without them seeming very familiar to Michael’s own dreams, just in case he’d got it wrong and Michael really did think he was crazy. “Well, I can move in my dreams. I do have control of myself. But there’s this…thing watching me from the shadows, I can feel it there just as much as I can see it. Unlike your dreams, mine are always telling me to stay away, to try and get away if I can but if I’m honest it’s just a gut feeling. There’s no real danger as far as I can see.”

“You make it sound like there’s nothing to worry about but if there wasn’t you wouldn’t have let it get this far. What’s stopping you doing something different?”

Gavin shrugged. “I don’t know, every horror movie ever?” He cracked a grin before it dwindled under Michael’s gaze. “It just feels wrong. It’s not a monster or anything, it seems kind of human but that makes it worse because it feels like it’s trying to lull me into a false sense of security. Do you think I should do something different then?” He stared into the middle distance, seeing the shadow there ahead of him, coaxing him like it would in his sleep until Michael waved a hand in front of his face.

“I don’t know but honestly, you can’t keep going like this. You can say all you want about it not affecting you and that you’re just curious but it’s kind of easy to tell that you’ve at least seemed ill to everyone lately even if we didn’t know what the cause was. I’m assuming you’re not letting yourself sleep.” Michael nudged him, good naturedly. “I’d rather have the annoying British pest back instead of someone who’s finding it hard to come up with amusing antics because they’re trying not to fall asleep in the middle of a game.”

“I do not fall asleep in the middle of let’s plays.” Gavin sat up straight, pouting playfully as the shadow fizzled to nothing, leaving him feeling relieved.

“Yeah well, ignoring the issue even in your dreams is probably a bad thing in general. Take a chance, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“Maybe, you’re right. I’ll try and pluck up the courage to do just that.”

~~~~

Michael was caught by Geoff later that day, wondering for a second if he’d done something wrong from the way Geoff was acting. That is until he started speaking.

“Gavin seems more relaxed today than he has in a while, something to do with you?” Geoff’s eyes wandered over to Gavin who was yawning in his seat unlike the usual last few days where he’d sit up straight and try and pretend he wasn’t tired even though the dark shadows under his eyes told a different story.

“Maybe. He asked me some questions about dreams, that’s all.” Michael held up a hand before Geoff could say anything, already seeing the disappointment in his eyes. “Don’t look so put out, he didn’t exactly say much about his nightmares and I didn’t let on that you’d told me anything. He was just asking me about my dreams and the feel of his one.”

“So, what now?”

“Leave him to it, hopefully he’ll be able to sort out his nightmare tonight and it’ll never worry him again.” Michael grinned as Geoff clapped him on the shoulder, he might be disappointed that Gavin didn’t go to him but if it was going to help him in the long run he wasn’t that put out. He also couldn’t help but feel pride when Gavin acted his usual self for the rest of the day without any air of forcing his grin or reactions and knowing that his advice might be the reason for such a change.

~~~~

It wasn’t until the next morning that Michael doubted his intuition. Not until he found himself at work earlier than the others and Geoff came in with a face like thunder, slamming and locking the door behind him before anyone could come in and see what the problem was.

“Geoff-”

“Alright, what the _fuck_ did you say to him yesterday? I want everything. _Now_.”


	4. Even daydreams can be nightmares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long, new job/work experience and various doctors and hospital appointments (xrays blarg) over last week >.> not completely better but on the mend so I thought I'd get a chapter out :3 enjoy~ imp x

“Ease off, Geoff. I didn’t-” Michael’s snappish remark quailed under the glare he got from Geoff, arms tightly crossed as he leant against the door.

“Like fuck I’m going to believe that. Whatever happened, things got _worse_. So spill. What exactly did he say to you yesterday?”

“How about you tell me, what happened so I can figure it out as well.” Michael bit back before sitting down when he realised Geoff’s stony gaze was all he was getting. “ _Alright_ , all he told me was that there was a figure or something in his dreams that followed him and gave him a bad feeling so he never went near it. I told him to try going towards it, that ignoring it obviously wasn’t working.” He glared as Geoff tutted. “Well what else was I meant to say _? Keep doing what you’re doing, bud. You’re doing a great job._ Shit, just tell me what happened. Please?” He kicked the chair opposite him, hoping Geoff would get the hint and not punch him in the face which is what he looked like he wanted to do. His heart raced as well, Geoff's stony silence not helping his imagination from running round in circles at the thought of what he might have caused.

Geoff sighed and relented, sitting in the chair. It wasn’t Michael’s fault; he knew that, neither of them knew how to respond to Gavin through this. “He woke up completely frantic, first time I’ve seen him like that- well no, the second I guess. The first time he fell out of bed and stared up at me in shock for a bit. I’d heard him tossing and turning and wondered about waking him up. Anyway…” He shook his head, going off target. “That time, he calmed down when he saw me, laughed it off, pretended it was nothing. This time he didn’t, this time he was so confused and stuttering, I think the lack of sleep is getting to him.”

“What did he say?” Michael tried not to get frustrated or tell Geoff to get to the point, that wouldn’t win him any points with the man anytime soon.

“That it was getting closer…I’m guessing the figure you mentioned. He was kind of rambling, like he didn’t know where to start or as if he thought he was talking to himself instead of me. He said that something kept whatever it was away from him, like a barrier and that he _was_ going to follow your advice but then it got closer than it should have been able to and he couldn’t figure out why.” Geoff played with his beard, a worried and slightly guilty look on his face. “Sorry, that’s why I was annoyed at you. I thought whatever you’d told him to do had backfired. But it still wouldn’t have been your fault anyway.”

“No, it would have been.” Michael hummed, spinning back round to his desk as a thought crossed his mind. “I might have an idea, if you’re interested.”

“Oh? Another one?”

“ _Haha_ , at least I’m trying, bastard. There’s this…stuff. Apparently it can help you enter other people’s dreams. Worth a shot?” Michael left it purposefully vague; not wanting to admit that he’d looked into this kind of thing before. Testing the waters to see if Geoff rejected the idea entirely.

Geoff raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief. “Stuff?”

“Well, clearly we’ll need to do some research but if it is _possible_.” Michael glared, trying not to let his anger get the better of him. Though it helped that Geoff hadn't instantly laughed in his face. “Would you want in or not?”

“If we found out about whatever it is properly. Safety checks and all, count me in. The worst outcome then is that it was just a bogus product and we didn’t help at all.” Geoff shrugged, sitting forward, his elbows on his thighs as he clasped his hands. “So, how would we get Gavin to agree?”

“We wouldn’t need to.” Michael shrugged. “He’d just think we were figments of his imagination trying to help him, not that we were actually, you know, _there_.”

“Ok, but what if he isn’t having the nightmare that particular night?”

Michael laughed ironically. “From the sleep deprivation, I’d say that’s not an issue at the moment.” He shrugged. “You could always act the scolding father figure and give him something to make him sleep one night.”

“I thought sleeping pills and stuff were meant to give you a dreamless sleep?” Geoff frowned, seeming put-out.

“Who honestly knows? Besides, think of it as a precaution then. You’ve thought about giving him sleeping pills before right? To stop him dreaming? Your face says as much.” Michael’s mouth quirked up in a smile as Geoff tried to neutralise his facial expression, snapping his mouth shut before he was able to ask how Michael knew. “But if you were to make him sleep and he did have this nightmare and couldn’t wake up from it like usual, then what? You’d feel a hell of a lot worse in the morning.” He couldn’t help wincing at the guilty look Geoff wore for an instance just at the thought of it. “But if we’re there in his dreams that night, we can help him and blame it all on his sleeping pills if he asks any questions.”

Geoff nodded, taking it. "Alright, you look it up. _Quietly_ though. I'd give it to you as a job throughout work but we've got nosy bastards at work here and we wouldn't hear the end of it until we told them."

"Gavin being the nosiest one of them all." Michael grinned as Geoff laughed, the first relaxed moment of the day, the tension breaking.

"Yeah and he'd hate knowing what we were doing and never forgive us for bringing it up at wor-" The doorknob rattled suddenly.

"Geoff, what you doing, you pleb? Honestly, you ask me to grab you something and then you lock me out." Gavin huffed as the door opened before pausing, eyes narrowing in suspicion. "What's going on here?"

Michael made himself laugh, trying not to look guilty as Geoff looked at him over Gavin's shoulder for help. "Just because you have a habit of coming up with suspicious things doesn't mean we do." He swung back to his computer as Gavin continued to look bewildered. "Doesn't mean you shouldn't watch your back on the next let's play." He  couldn't help wonder how Gavin did it as he playfully whined at Geoff, believing every word. How did he come in everyday and pretend he ws as bright and cheerful as ever?

"You're both mean." Gavin glared, rubbing his eye sleepily before he noticed Geoff's concern and getting unusually frustrated. He felt guilty and embarrassed enough without that worried father look he was getting. "I'm fine, Geoff, stop it. I'm going to throw these beers in the fridge then, think I'm the one that'll need one later by the sounds of it." He walked back out of the room, trying to psyche himself up for the day ahead.

"He can say what he wants but even he doesn't know what he looked like yesterday." Geoff sighed, sitting down at his desk with a stretch. "Never felt like I couldn't help before either."

"Oh?"

Geoff snorted. "I wanted to break whoever had done that to him. How do you do that to a dream?"

"Well, you might be able to soon." Michael hummed thoughtfully, wondering what they would do once there. The next muttering out of Geoff's mouth would have him agreeing wholeheartedly with him.

"Good, I don't wanna see him asking why it was happening to him and what he had done to deserve it so dejectedly ever again."

~~~~

"So, what's up with Vav?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself, Ray?" Michael raised an eyebrow up at their other coworker as he watched the door, obviously nervous that Gavin would come back and overhear. Ray was definitely not the loudest of the bunch but that didn't mean he was afraid to let his thoughts known usually.

"I did and got my head ripped off for my troubles. So I thought I'd ask his _little Michael._ " Ray grinned annoyingly as he imitated the accent badly. "You realise there's a lot of ill Gavin posts on the Mavin tags, don't you?” He never missed a moment to tease them about that. “Everybody started to notice without even seeing him, though that all changed after our last behind the scenes video. They all commented on the dark circles under his eyes."

"Wow, what a great friend you are, Ray. That you only notice he's not in a good way when the fans do." Michael felt instantly bad for his sarcastic remark as Ray's grin slipped.

"I noticed but I didn't think...is it serious then? Why wouldn't he tell-"

"Don't listen to him, Ray, he's fucking with you." Geoff didn't even turn from the video he was editing, trying to act nonchalant. They were still trying to keep everyone else out of Gavin’s problems, so broadcasting it would hardly help in that matter.

Ray visibly relaxed at that, believing the guy living with Gavin would know best. "Yeah, ok." He looked at Michael sheepishly. "I did notice, just thought he'd get himself out of it like he usually does."

"Yeah I know, I'm worried too, sorry. But if Geoff says it's nothing then it's nothing I guess." Michael smiled sadly, the pair nodding in understanding before going back to their work. It took a second for something to sink in. "Wait, what do you mean _usually_?"

"What, you’ve never noticed?" Jack spun his chair round, a look of disbelief on his face. "Every month or so he has a day where he's quieter, more stuck in his own thoughts."

Ray nodded in agreement. "I tried to figure it out but there's no pattern to it. It can last a week and then not happen for ages, other times it's like Jack says and just one really off day."

Ryan hummed thoughtfully from the couch. "See, now that you say that, I can see it."

Geoff and Michael looked at each other as the others went back to work, Gavin coming back in none the wiser a few seconds later. They both shrugged, following suit and going back to work. They still couldn’t see it but then again they'd never boasted about being the most observant of the bunch.

Michael looked down at his phone again where he had been trying to sneakily look up things, he'd found the plant he'd meant earlier and was now slowly checking through the side effect list and what to do to compile it for Geoff. He gave a soft smile to himself.

They might not be as observant as the others but they were definitely going to do something about this problem.

~~~~

“We keeping you up, Gav?”

Gavin jumped, feeling guilty for yawning as he looked over at Ray. It didn’t help that they were recording the next let’s play so his excuse had to be good, though then again the audience would probably hear the yawn themselves unless Gavin remembered to cut it out. “Oh, you know, too many things to do at night.” He gave a playful wink before turning back to his own pc, ignoring the eyes he could feel in the back of his skull. It was hard to think about what happened a few nights ago without being embarrassed, he hadn’t really noticed Geoff was there while he was muttering to himself after waking up. He knew he probably looked a state at the time which hadn’t helped when he still hadn’t wanted to explain himself properly. Well not so much wouldn’t, but couldn’t explain what was going on, it took long enough to get his head round it without confusing others.

His nights hadn’t gotten better since, especially now Geoff was trying too hard to help, to _talk_. So he’d decided instead of trying to sleep and putting himself through the stress of the dream, he would just stay up with his headphones on all night playing games or thinking up ideas for the slow mo guys. Weirdly sleep deprivation was giving him at least some new interesting ideas he hadn’t considered before. But it was definitely taking its toll slowly but surely. Every so often he would feel his eyes drooping, or realise just how easily he’d slipped into his own world…

Gavin snapped back out of his thoughts like he’d been hit. He shook his head, staring back at the screen as everyone laughed. He’d walked himself off a cliff without even realising it. He groaned, losing all his items meant he’d set himself back in getting the tower, he needed to focus. He sat up straight, trying to plot where he had died and how far it was, even as he felt his eyes still wanting to close.

 And two eyes stared back at him from the screen.

Gavin gulped as he felt everything go silent, a small buzzing as his ears had suddenly been blocked and his vision funnelled onto his screen. A small figure was walking up to his creeper figure, only this one was pure black and not at all pixelated like everything else on the game, it’s wide slack grin and hollowed eye sockets still present even this small form. It wasn’t looking at anything bar him either, just slowly walking closer and closer to the camera. He pushed back from his desk with a yelp, throwing his controller as he went.

And found himself on the floor as his chair fell backwards.

“Uhm, was there a creeper?” Jack asked, trying hard to hold in his laughter at Gavin, unable to see the terror on his face from this angle.

“You alright there, Gavin?”

“Y-yeah, just a creeper.” Gavin gulped, shaking his head as sound returned, everyone starting to laugh, though Michael’s and Geoff’s sounded more forced than usual.

“Well, that was an overreaction if I ever saw one. Wish we’d had a camera focused on you then.” Ryan hummed before killing Ray in the game.

“Hey, what gives?”

Gavin gulped again, standing up with a shaky laugh and putting his chair upright, he looked over to see Geoff and Michael still watching him. “What? I didn’t hurt myself. Just being an idiot as per usual.”

“You sure?” Michael tried to act calm but he’d been the only one to see Gavin’s face as he stared at his screen, trying to grab his attention, having found his character just standing in the middle of a forest while Gavin stared intently. There was definitely no creeper or any other mob around.

“Course.” Gavin sat back down, returning to the game hesitantly and realising Banjo was standing in front of him. “Oh, Michael! You found me, team nice dynamite and help me not die again?” He oddly felt like having another guy around in game might stop the thing from coming back even though he was sitting in a crowded room of six in real life and that hadn’t helped at all.

“Sure bud, nice dynamite it is. Til you know, one of has to win. Can’t have the creepers having all the fun with you.” Michael ignored how reassured Gavin’s smile was when he looked at him, instead nudging him to get going in game. He jumped as his phone went off, sure he’d put it away beforehand.

“Professional, Michael.” Geoff shouted from across the room.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry.” Michael pulled it over, seeing the message was from Geoff himself. He went to say as much before deciding Geoff must have a reason for the secrecy. He checked it quick, nodding in the hopes that Geoff had turned around to look at him ‘disapprovingly’.

 

_Come over tonight, I’ll figure it out with Griffon to get Gav out the way. We need to get this dream hopping done asap._


	5. A tower of glass is hard to hide behind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter got really really long and I didn't want to cut it into two *huffs* have fun with the extra long chapter XD I was meant to get this out over the weekend but I wasn't happy with it, still wondering about it but I can't think of anything I missed out :/ so I hope you enjoy ♥ imp

Michael texted Geoff to say he was outside when he got to the Ramsey residence, just in case they hadn’t been very successful in getting Gavin to leave them alone for the evening. Michael coming around out of the blue would just make him suspicious and they’d never get away with what they were doing. He clutched the small bag he held tightly as he waited impatiently for the door to open, wondering what was taking so long, his brain going through several worst case scenarios before the door finally opened and he sighed with relief.

That is until Griffon opened the door with a suspicious look that rivalled the look he had been envisioning on Gavin’s face. He gulped as she just moved out of the way for him, gesturing towards the living room.

“Is Gav-?” He stopped as she gave him a nod, deciding it was better to talk to Geoff and find out what was going on before tackling that facial expression. He made his way to the living room, seeing Geoff sitting up straight and stiffly that didn’t bode well. He coughed to grab his attention. “So…?”

“Oh, hey.” Geoff tried a small smile before his face dropped as Griffon walked in the room. “Uhm, I told Griffon what we were planning.”

“I kind of assumed as much.” Michael nodded at her before sitting down across from Geoff so that Griffon could sit next to her husband. “I’ll take the silence I’m getting to mean that you don’t approve of my idea?”

“I’m just worried about what you two are going to be taking to do this.” She sighed, crossing her arms. “I mean it’s not something that’s commonly known so it’s got to be risky, right?”

“Only in the case of it has a low chance of actually working.” Michael shrugged. “After all dream hopping is hard to believe so people try to disprove it, in this case if something doesn’t work the first time you’re likely to just call bullshit and leave it at that, right?”

“I guess…” Griffon looked put out by his reasoning. “What about the risks to Gavin then, could you actually make all this worse for him?”

“Not as far as I know, it’s still just a dream. His nightmares are somehow manifesting in his daydreams so I can’t see how much more damage we can do.” Michael looked around again. “By the way, how exactly did you ditch Gavin for the evening?”

“I asked Ray to invite him over to his with the offer of paying for takeout in return for getting Gavin to relax for a few hours.” Geoff mumbled distractedly before turning to Griffon. “Look I get that you’re worried about all this but we can’t just leave it as it is, can we? You can hardly say you aren’t noticing all of this.”

“Yeah but, wouldn’t it better for him to seek more professional help than you two botching this idea together?”

Geoff snorted. “What, for them to stick him in a mental asylum or pack him full of sedatives in the hopes that’ll cure it? I can’t see them having any more of an idea as to what’s going on than we do.”

“I have all the info on everything printed off if you want to check through side effects and stuff on the internet; you know just to check I’m not hiding anything.” Michael piped in, opening his bag and holding out a stack of papers. Griffon nodded, still in deep thought as she took them and wandered out of the room. “I’m guessing you want to know all that too.”

“Yeah but in all honesty I want to go through with this either way.” Geoff shrugged. “The boy’s a mess and if I knew I could have done something but I didn’t then I’d be more ashamed of myself.”

Michael nodded, understanding entirely. “Well, I don’t know what you’ve heard about dream plants but there are a few that are meant to make dreams more vivid. You kind of make this tincture or tea out of them and drink it before going to sleep. That or you put the herb under your pillow depending on how it works. Either way, that just keeps you in your own dreams but gives you a bit more control, or remembering ability. In this case a mixture will be needed to actually separate us from our own dreams to Gavin’s.”

“Wait, surely a mixture of this stuff isn’t great?”

“Well, most of its actually fairly normal stuff. Peppermint, for example actually aids dreams.” Michael had this rehearsed to a tee, knowing what kinds of questions would come up. “There’s some stronger things, something called Calea Zacatechichi, a mouthful I know, that tastes bad but there aren’t any known side effects to it other than the lucid dreams. That was a pain to find I can assure you.”

“You bought all of the stuff already?” Geoff glanced down at the bag, his posture relaxing slightly. They weren’t just talking anymore, they were going to get stuff done and it made him feel better even with the nagging thoughts of what could go wrong. “What about that African dream root one? Did you get that too?”

“Someone else did a bit of research then.” Michael smiled before nodding, watching Geoff look away. “Yeah, they’re the strongest two in the tea mixture so I’m a bit cautious but as far as I can tell the only side effect of that one is some nausea if the dose is too high, so we’ll just have a small dose of that. The dosages are all on the sheets Griffon has.” He started to pull out the herbs so Geoff could have a look at them, separating them into two piles. “I have another plan if it doesn’t work. _These_ are the kinds of herbs that can’t be drunk, you just keep them close while you sleep. But I think it’s best to try the tea first.”

“Oh?”

“Well, you are right, let’s not get carried away with our mixing. We wouldn’t want to have too heavy a sleep or damage Gavin’s dream by making that shit crazier with our own dreams invading his.”

“Our own dreams might help keep his at bay.” Geoff shrugged but getting his point.

They both glanced around as Griffon came out of the other room, still trying to look serious but it wasn’t effective. “Alright, I’ll buy it and trust you two if you think this will help him. I’d like my cute but irritating Brit back at some point and if you think this will speed up the process then I can’t see any harm in trying.” She gave Michael a serious look. “You just bring him back safe and sound, you hear?”

Michael sat for a second, not knowing if she meant Geoff or Gavin but Geoff saluted her with a grin.

“Yes, Ma’am.” He tugged her down into the seat next to him. “Does that mean you’ll help?”

“If helping is tucking you two in so you don’t get a cold sleeping on the sofas then yeah sure.” She raised an eyebrow at Michael. “So you’ve done this before then?”

“What?” Michael was caught off guard, looking to Geoff for help but he was also looking intrigued.

“Oh, please. There’s no way you gathered that much information in only a few days. Let alone order all of this, which I’m assuming you had too because I don’t know any local stores that sell this stuff. So either you already had some of these plants already or you knew exactly what you were looking for and ordered them while at work the day you found out about Gavin’s latest nightmare.”

“Huh, you’re too observant, you know that?” Michael huffed at the smug look he got in return. “Yeah, I was curious when I was younger about these kinds of things. And these things lose their potency if kept for too long so the second option of buying them at work that day is the right one.”

“Really? You? I can’t see it.” Geoff laughed, shaking his head.

“Yeah well, I kind of felt the need too.” Michael shuffled under their weighted gazes, looking down at the floor.

“How about I go start putting these ingredients together? I want to get dosages to the bare minimum if I can. That is if you’re thinking of doing this tonight once Gavin gets back?” Griffon waited for them to nod before standing up, taking the herbs Michael pointed out with her as he stuffed the rest back into his bag.

There was a moment of silence before Geoff brought it up again. “So, what kind of need is this? Griffon obviously assumed you didn’t want to talk in front of her but if there’s going to be some issues with this, I’d rather find out now.”

Michael sighed, feeling confronted but knowing he couldn’t keep this secret for long. “Look, I didn’t want to say this because I thought you’d think- well, that I was backing out or something when I’m not at all.” He waited for Geoff to say something but he just watched him silently. “The truth is, I’ve kind of always been able to dream hop. Or I think I have. I used to hear people recanting their dreams at school and stuff, or even at Roosterteeth and know that I had been in the exact same dream as well. Call me crazy if you want but it’s just something I’ve noticed. And you dream about alcohol way too much, you know that right? Your dreams literally reek of the stuff.”

“So you don’t need to take this bullshit tea?” Geoff spelt it out slowly, trying to understand and ignoring the last comments. “But if that was true then, why haven’t you just had a peek at Gavin’s dream yourself? Or better yet, ripped the shit out of the demon or whatever is in there?”

“I’ve tried; I’ve been trying ever since Gavin asked me for help. But I’m starting to think he’s just not sleeping from the response I’m getting.” Michael sighed, flopping down. “Honestly, I’ll drink the tea with you because otherwise Griffon will get suspicious and I’m hoping it will help me too, either by forcing a better reaction or from our combined thoughts to get to Gavin. I’m thinking that hopping into your dreams might be easier than Gavin’s and then from there we can both press on. For some reason I just can’t get into Gavin’s dreams on my own. So far when I’ve tried, I just entered my own recurring dream instead, that or I’ve just got no response at all which is why I’m thinking he just stopped sleeping.”

“You know what Gavin’s going through from experience then?”

“Kind of.”

~~~~

Gavin opened the front door to the Ramsey residence quietly, not wanting to disturb Griffon and Geoff on their one night alone in a long time, Millie was at a sleepover and then Ray had invited him over much to Geoff’s happiness. He tiptoed down the hallway before he heard a familiar voice he hadn’t been expected and instead shuffled to the wall to listen to the conversation.

“Kind of…I mean don’t misunderstand I have no idea what Gavin’s nightmares are, I mean dreams are hard to describe at the best of times so he’s probably having a hard time figuring out what it all means himself. I don’t understand my own dreams but at least I can lock them away when I wake up.”

Gavin knocked his head against the wall with a silent groan. Of course Geoff and Michael would be worried and talking about him he just hadn’t expected Geoff to use his night off to look into his idiotic nightmares instead of spending a well-deserved evening with his wife.

“Is this why he went to talk to you instead of me? Because he hoped you’d have some good advice?”

Gavin winced at Geoff’s voice. This was his own fault, he should never have said Michael’s name when he woke up from his nightmare that night. Geoff wouldn’t know about them talking otherwise. He cursed his stupidity, stifling any noise just in case with his hand. It wasn’t needed however as Michael’s next words took the wind out of him.

“Yeah but I wasn’t very good at that, now was I? I mean I can’t even get rid of my own dreams so how can I help him with his? At least for me the dreams just anger me. I’m stuck behind a god damn glass barricade with a person on the other side and I know they’re in trouble but I can’t get through it and I know that they could come to my side if they wanted but they seem more god damn nervous of me than the dangers on the other side of the glass. Then I end up shouting like I usually do and scaring them more.”

“Maybe your dreams are trying to tell you that your anger doesn’t solve anything.”

“Hah, maybe.”

“A barrier though…”

“What?”

“Oh, nothing, just a thought that was all.”

Gavin frowned, had Geoff thought the same thing as him? He wondered just how much he’d rambled that night, trying to retrace himself and see whether he’d mentioned a barrier. He stood up straight, going back to the front door and reopening and closing it loudly. “Hi! I’m back, did you miss me?”

“Gavin?” He tried not to laugh at Geoff’s suddenly jumpy voice. “Hey, mate, how was your evening?”

“It was good, Ray beat me at every game we played as usual though.” Gavin walked into the living room smiling brightly before taking in Michael. “Oh, Michael! What are you doing here?”

“J-just dropping off some things I borrowed from Geoff, that’s all. I forgot to give them to him at work earlier.”

“You dummy.” Gavin rolled his eyes, he could pretend if they wanted to as well, he wasn’t keen on joining that particular conversation. “Well, sorry to say it but I’m shattered so I’m going to head to bed early.” He waved his hand at them both and made his way to his room. It was high time he took that advice of Michael’s and stepped towards the shadow instead of away from it.

~~~~

A few hours later, Gavin was pacing his room, annoyed at himself. He couldn’t force himself to sleep, even though he was exhausted. The thought that he’d been wrong was a hopeful one, but if he had been right all along? To keep away from the shadow? Then what would happen? He gulped shuddering, there was no way _Michael_ would haunt him like this thing had, even if it was a prank and somehow possible (which it couldn’t be, the logical part of his mind kept telling him). But then again was that just the sleep deprivation in the day time making his dreams seem scarier than they actually were? He growled, kicking his bed before realising his mistake and stumbled around holding his toe, cursing.

“Gavin?”

He froze, looking at the door. He’d heard Michael leave and was sure Geoff would have gone to bed by now. “Y-yeah?”

“Can I come in?” Geoff opened the door without waiting for a reply, looking at the damage in front of him, one hand behind his back the whole time. “You taking out some frustration on your bed or on yourself there?”

“Frustration?” Gavin tried to put down his foot and pretend it didn’t hurt instead of admitting to Geoff that anything was wrong.

“Listen, I get it. You don’t want to seem like a complete nut job and all that crap. But honestly? You’re kind of worrying everyone with this ‘I’m fine’ attitude. So…” Geoff threw something at Gavin from behind his back.

Gavin fumbled, catching the items with a frown, the bottle of pills rattling as they rolled in his palm, a bottle of water slipping out of his grasp to the floor before he could stop it. “What?”

“You. Sleep. No arguments. Understand?” Geoff crossed his arms, waiting.

“Geoff, I don’t think-”

“No arguments. I’m not leaving this room until I see you swallow down one of those pills.”

Gavin blinked at him before looking down again at the bottle. Maybe it couldn’t hurt to sleep like that, if it meant no dreams then he’d happily take them for the rest of his life, though he knew that if his friends found that out he’d never be allowed to take them. But what if it didn’t stop the dreams and meant he was stuck there for longer? He tightened his grip on the bottle, deciding that it would make him take Michael’s advice. “Alright, Geoff…thanks for looking after me.”

“Well, I’d like you to not freak out and fall out of your chair at nothing if we can help it. I don’t mind living with a lunatic but I don’t think team lads will be impressed if you help them lose again like you did today.” Geoff cracked a smile as Gavin took the pill, almost gagging but managing to swallow. “Hey, look you didn’t throw up, congrats. Maybe we can see how well you take wet-”

“If you want me to continue keeping this pill down I wouldn’t continue that sentence.”

Geoff raised his hands in surrender, still grinning before he ducked out of the room. “Get some rest then, Gavin.”

Gavin grumbled in response before collapsing on his bed and finally letting his exhaustion take over, there was no point fighting it now after all.

~~~~

“Are you sure this is the right way?”

“No, I’m not, Geoff. There isn’t a ‘take the next available right turn once you hit Geoff’s mind and you’ll reach your destination’ sign, unless I missed one earlier on?” Michael snapped as Geoff looked at him unimpressed, like he had been for the last five minutes. Finding Geoff had been easy, the next part was still proving difficult.

“Don’t snap at me, you’re the one who does this shit on a regular basis.”

“It’s not a regular basis and normally I’m not trying to get anywhere in particular.” Michael growled, rubbing his forehead as he felt the horrible tugging sensation yet again. “That and I can practically feel my dream trying to drag me and you in and it’s getting very hard to keep away.”

“Then stop trying.”

Michael stopped and turned to Geoff with a disbelieving look. “What?”

“I mean it. If you can’t force it to work, stop trying. This is a dream, remember, thinking too hard is probably an issue here.” Geoff shrugged. “I’ve put a lot of trust into you tonight, so how about you trust me on this one?”

Michael blinked at him a few more times before sighing and giving in. The world shifted significantly, a dank, cold, grey area manifesting around them quickly. He winced as Geoff shuddered at the sudden change in temperature but his attention was soon caught by the new scenery. “Wait, something’s off.” He could see the place he normally landed, he’d traced the line that he couldn’t cross a thousand times and if he wasn’t mistaken, he was on the other side for once.

“Are we on the other side of the barricade?”

Michael’s frown deepened. “How would you know that?”

Geoff grinned. “Oh, something Gavin said about a barrier. Come on.” He tugged Michael forward so they could get a better view, pulling him down to crouch behind a small wall.

Michael stumbled as Geoff pulled him, too busy staring, waiting for the person he knew always stood on this side of the world. The person he’d wanted to meet for as long as he could remember. He wondered if this time, the figure would be able to hear him and understand him. He smiled as the person came into view. He’d never been able to see them clearly but he thought it was a guy about his own age, after all, the figure had been tiny once. That was the one thing he hated about his own dream hopping, if he didn’t know who the person was, he couldn’t see them properly. The first time he entered a dream, the person always was translucent, a small light glowing where their heart normally rested. If he figured out who the person was through the light or if they spoke about the dream in real life and he figured it out that way, it would glow less, letting him see them properly. This was another reason the guy had always frustrated him, his light was so bright he’d never been able to discern any features at all, making imagining out who it was near on impossible.

“Hah! I was right, it’s Gavin.” Geoff tried to be quiet but he couldn’t help laughing. “Somehow even in dreams you two have had a miscommunication.”

“What?” Michael started, his eyes flicking from Geoff’s smug face and back to the figure, watching the light disappear behind bone and skin and clothing until Gavin stood there and a little light peeked out around him. “I don’t…how?” He stared at Gavin’s now visible determined face, arm outstretched towards the barrier.

“Who gives a fuck? I’m just happy that the thing he’s freaked out by is just you and now you can fix that easily.” Geoff shrugged, trying to push him out of their hiding place until he realised that Michael was frozen to the spot. “What? You told him to go towards the figure, right? That’s what he’s doing! And he’s just going towards you, or your outline by the looks of it. No wonder he was scared of you. But if this is your dream as well then he’s got nothing to worry about, right?”

“Geoff, you don’t get it.” Michael stood up, suddenly nervous. “And neither will Gavin unless we stop him.”

“Huh?” Geoff stumbled up, completely confused at the sudden change in attitude. “But you said-”

“I know what I said, Geoff.” Michael snapped, walking forward. “But if this is _my_ dream and _I’m_ here next to you. Then who or what is Gavin walking towards?” He started forward, staggering sideways as Geoff finally understood his warning and sprinted past him.

“Gavin, can you hear me? I want you to stop for a minute.” Geoff called out, just in case they weren’t fast enough before he took the outstretched hand in front of him. He sighed in relief as Gavin hesitated and pulled back from the figure, turning to him instead.

“Geoff? What are you doing here?”

Geoff slowed to a halt as Gavin stared at him, puzzled, his mouth tweaking up slightly. “A story for another time but how about you come over here first, yeah?”

“No, I need to do this. I’m not suddenly having a figment of my imagination stop me. I don’t think he’ll hurt me anyway.”

Geoff looked over his shoulder at the shadowy figure, he wasn’t so sure now he was closer that it looked like Michael, a mirage that’s tempered impatience gave it away. “Why do you say that?”

“Because I think it might be Michael.” Gavin smiled. “And he may threaten me from time to time but I don’t think he’d hurt me like this intentionally.”

Michael flinched at the words, walking out of the shadows now; having hoped Geoff could talk some sense into him on his own. He didn’t want to scare Gavin unless it was the only tactic they had left. “Gavin, if you won’t listen to him, then listen to me, yeah?” He looked over at the shadow, glad it was caught like he’d always been before. He wasn’t going to question what it was, not now anyway, not until Gavin was safely away from it. It turned it’s gaze to him though and as clear as day he could hear it, even though it seemed the others didn’t, the dark grin widening.

_It doesn’t matter, thanks to you, he’s let me through._

With that the shadow stepped forward past the line, the moment passing in a split second though it felt longer for Michael, the sound of shattering glass echoing through his head. Just as Gavin glanced over to him and his expression turned to one of horror, his mistake realised with a stumbling step away from the barrier, a dark claw tightened around his wrist spinning him back round. Time sped forward again and Gavin was being dragged forcefully towards a gaping tear in the world’s existence, the pair speeding after them.

Both hit the barrier, watching Gavin try to tear himself back towards them and woke up with a start, the panic of the dream hitting them like it had done to Gavin many a time as he awoke from it.

Only this time Gavin hadn’t woken up along with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope Griffon wasn't too OOC for anyone, just thought somebody should be the voice of reason for a bit instead of agreeing to this plan...that and don't eat me? I'm sorry, I like cliffhangers~ *grins*


	6. Calling in backup, respond?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to say sorry, this was done yesterday but internet crashed until just now >.>   
> That and thanks for the kudos and comments ^.^ I love hearing from people ♥  
> On to the chapter~ Enjoy, and finally a note for the prompter~ your minecraft dreams come into play (I know I took long enough to get in here!)

“Michael, why the _fuck_ isn’t he waking up?”

Michael stood watching from the doorway, his mind buzzing with everything that had just happened. It didn’t help that Geoff was practically panicking, his voice squeaking higher as Gavin ignored every attempt to wake him. “Maybe it’s the pills.” He flinched back at the look Geoff gave him. “No, honestly. Maybe it’s a coincidence with the dream changing. Maybe he can’t wake up because he was so exhausted and we gave him sleeping pills. Surely that would make him have a heavier sleep than usual- and if you keep _shaking_ him like that, you are going to do some damage. Stop it.”

Geoff dropped Gavin back on to the bed when his latest efforts did nothing, his hands still shaking slightly though at the non-responsive nature of their friend. “Fine, we’ll give it a few hours then but I think that’s a load of bull and I think you do too.” He dragged a hand through his hair, still glancing down at Gavin every few seconds. “Either way, that… _thing_ got him and now because of us he’s stuck in that hell hole of a dream and there’s nothing we can do about it, is there? It basically proved it could lock us out at will.”

“But it’s just a dream; I don’t understand how it’d have that much power. And even if it was a figment of Gavin’s imagination, why would he make it so that he never won? I mean sure, dreams are psychotic and half the time people aren’t in control but surely your mind would give you some kind of weapon in response?” Michael sat down on the edge of the bed, watching Gavin’s chest rise and fall peacefully, he couldn’t even tell if Gavin was still in his nightmare though he could only assume he was.

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s tricked himself into believing that if the thing ever crossed the barrier then he’d have no chance and it’s feeding off of that.” Geoff sat down as well, his head in his hands. “This is insane you know that right? How can a dream hold so much power?”

“It doesn’t. We do. As you said, Gavin was terrified it’d get to him and I told him to ignore that. When Gavin’s resolve crumbled it could get through. I made the monster that much stronger.” He continued to stare at Gavin, waiting for any sign at all that he needed help. There was a slight risk to drinking more of their mixture in the same night, they hadn’t thought about this possibility and all Michael could feel was a puddle of guilt weighing deep inside him and the dark understanding of how a dream could haunt someone. He’d always been frustrated by his dreams, the glowing boy on the other side of the barricade and the twinge of fear that he wouldn’t be able to help him if something happened but that was nothing compared to making the connection and suddenly seeing that it was one of his closest friends on the other side of the glass and there was absolutely nothing he could do but watch the scene play out before him and appreciate just how much it was his fault. He’d always hoped that the helpless feeling would never invade his real life but there was no way of stopping it now.

“Easy mate, don’t want your thoughts going down that route.”

“Why? It’s true.”

Geoff turned to him, a stern expression on his face. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed the state Gavin’s got into by believing this thing has control? Let’s not have you doubting yourself and making it stronger at the same time. I know we like boss battles but I’d rather one we had a chance at beating.” He gave a sigh, flopping back so that he was leaning against Michael’s back. “What the hell is it anyway?”

“How should I know? It’s Gavin’s dream.” Michael grumbled, he’d asked himself the same question but he felt like the answer wouldn’t be one he was happy to hear. “Will knowing what it is make it easier to get rid of?”

“Maybe, how should I know?” Geoff shot back at him, turning his head slightly to try and see Michael’s expression. “Is it Gavin’s dream though? Or yours? Or both? It was on your side of the barrier after all.”

“But I never noticed it was there with me.” Michael shuddered. “Oh, that’s creepy. What if the whole time I was trying to help the-Gavin-” He corrected himself, feeling weird at the sudden change in his thought process. “He was backing away because he could see that thing behind me?”

“Creepy, yeah, but I think he only ever saw one figure. Which would mean he was standing in the same space as you and you never even knew.” Geoff cracked a smile as Michael shuddered again. He went quiet for a while, wanting to voice another idea that he had but he didn’t want Michael to take it the wrong way. If he right then Michael would be crucial for their next plan of action. “I still don’t get how all this works or how you and Gavin have been, what? Dream sharing instead of dream hopping for all these years and not even know it? As far as I knew Gavin was having this dream before you two even met, what about you?” He waited, feeling Michael nod before he bit his lip, glancing at Gavin, his head still warring with the new notion.

“Actually, I have no idea whose dreams I hop into the majority of the time. See I used to do it a lot more when I was younger.” Michael sat back, staring up at the ceiling. “I’d flit from dream to dream until I saw something interesting and then leave again when I got bored. There was this empty space- the place we were just in with Gavin- that was always so quiet and dark and as a kid I didn’t like it so I’d always leave as soon as I found myself there. Only one night when I stayed for a moment to catch my breath, I heard a voice.” He smiled at the memory, the first one with the glowing kid, whose head had tilted in curiosity and walked towards him, a new friend, that is until he had somehow scared him away and done the same every night since. “No one could see me in dreams unless I wanted them to and yet suddenly here was this kid in the one empty space I’d found and he could see me straight away, I just wanted to be friends at the time. Childish curiosity.” His smile slipped. “Who would have thought I’d cause this much damage or meet the person in real life? I always assumed that it was all in my head and if it wasn’t then the other person probably didn’t care at all or just found the dream as frustrating as I did.”

“Right. Maybe…”

“Spit it out Geoff, what do you want to say?” Michael could feel the tension rising from the other man and it wasn’t making him feel any more at ease.

“Well, what if you’re thinking of it the wrong way around? What if Gavin hopped into your dream?” Geoff spoke fast, not wanting to be interrupted. “Then that’s why he could see you, only he couldn’t properly, just like you can’t properly see the people whose dreams you enter. In your dream you said you wanted to protect the figure on the other side of the barricade. What if part of your mind did just that? They found a way through and used the moment to take him somewhere they think is safe even if it was against his will?”

“You think I’d do that?” Michael sat up straight, turning around properly to look at Geoff in disbelief.

“Well you said the dream frustrated you. Maybe you’ve thought before that if he got close you’d drag him through and make your excuses later?” Geoff watched Michael visibly gulp, knowing he’d hit a weak spot. “If that was the case, where would you have taken him?”

“I-I dunno. But maybe I could find out when we try again?”

Geoff nodded; glad Michael hadn’t rejected it outright or stormed out, angry at himself. Instead he had that determined look in his eye, the one that said he would take responsibility for his actions whether or not they had been intentional. “Good, I think you’re going to be our trusty navigator throughout our next adventure to save the damsel, hopefully with a better outcome this time.” He stood up, stretching before taking one last look at Gavin’s peaceful sleeping face, knowing just how much it was hiding. He’d come to the forgone conclusion that there was nothing they could do in the waking world to help, so that just left  them with waiting for the next chance they had and with a little help and luck Gavin would be able to look after himself until they were ready for round two.

“ _Our_?” Michael stood up after him, watching Geoff walk to the door, a perplexed look on his face.

“Well, if we’re dealing with the rage quit part of your head then I think we could use all the help we can get.”

Michael blinked before it sunk in, a small smile tweaking his lips. “You think they’ll be ok with all this and not throw us in a mental hospital?”

“Well, only one way to find out.”

~~~~

“You’re both _insane_.”

“You’re fucking with us, right?”

Michael sighed, turning to his desk, almost contemplating hitting his head against it. Repeatedly. Of course the others wouldn’t believe them, Jack and Ryan had spoken up immediately, Ray just sitting laughing nervously at his desk, obviously waiting for one of them to laugh or for Gavin to come through the door and prove what they’d just relayed to them was the biggest hoax they’d tried to pull in a while. He was almost wishing they hadn’t decided it was best to wait until the following evening to go back into the dream and instead risked the double dose of infused tea if this was the only response they were going to get. They were just wasting time.

“You think I’d choose something that sounds so stupid to mess with your heads with? Come on, give me some credit. I have an imagination.”

“Yeah that’s true, if Gavin was messing with us, he’d come up with something more believable.” Ray ducked, smiling as Geoff glared at him, an item balled up in his hand from his desk, ready to throw. “Did I say Gavin?”

“This isn’t a joke, guys. Gavin’s still out cold. We can’t wake him up at all.” Geoff huffed, the worry evident in his voice. “I wish it was all just a joke but you’ve seen how he’s been acting. Hell, you noticed it before us. The way he flinched at nothing or just seemed out of it. This was why.”

“So you come to _us_? This has to be bullshit. If he was in some kind of, I dunno, coma? You’d take him to a hospital. Not ask us for help.” Jack rolled his eyes, turning back to his desk. He’d been caught out one too many times with their little pranks and he was not going to be the gullible one this time. Besides… “And if you are that stupid, take him to the hospital now before you cause more damage.” He nodded to himself, Geoff and Michael looking after a non-responsive Gavin was definitely not the right option. He waited for something, _anything_ , from Geoff’s desk but heard silence. Not sure what to make of it, he turned around and then wished he hadn’t. It wasn’t every day you saw Geoff look that disappointed or worried. He didn’t know what to say, how to respond, so he just waited, wincing as Geoff looked over at Michael once before turning back to his desk.

“Well, I’m going to help him tonight with or without any of you. If you want to come help Gavin, you know where to find me.”

“Well as long as I don’t have to drink to see this magical shadow figure.” Ray grinned as Michael tried to whack him. “Alright, I’m in, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Michael smiled, nodding in thanks. He was upset as well that Jack was so against it, and that Ryan seemed to still be considering them but then again they did have no guarantee that this was safe and he wasn’t sure he’d believe them if the roles were reversed. The fact that Ray had just repeated his own words to Gavin when he’d advised him to walk towards the figure were also not lost on him, a niggling worry pooling at the back of his skull. “Are you sure? No offence, Geoff, but we are taking a risk here. I want everyone to know what they’re getting into.”

Ray rolled his eyes, getting back to work. “Honestly, I agree to help and you start doubting everything.” He glanced around at the others. “Besides, I’d rather go round later and have you all laugh at me for being gullible instead of ignoring this and not helping Gavin if he needs us. You’ve already told me off once.”

“Nice guy Ray to the rescue.”

“X-ray needs to have his trusty Vav by his side.”

Ryan gave a sigh, watching the exchange dubiously. “I was actually hoping Ray saying all that would make you feel guilty and confess it was all a prank. Guess I’m in too. But I will kill if you if you’re fucking with us.”

“I wish it was that easy. Good to have the help.” Michael looked around one more time, noticing Geoff was still tense and staring at his screen though he wasn’t doing anything on it and Jack was clicking away silently at his area, neither of them acknowledging what had happened behind them.

~~~~

It was later that evening when Michael and Geoff were finishing off making the next infusion with Griffon that there was a knock on the door.

“What time did you tell them to meet us?” Michael frowned, glancing at the clock that read 7:30.

“8…let’s hope whoever it is won’t take long.” Geoff stood up straight, a puzzled look on his face as he wandered to the door. His eyes widened as he opened it.

“Any chance you’ve got space for one more?” Jack looked down at his feet sheepishly, not looking up at Geoff for fear of his reaction.

“No one else is here yet, you idiot.” Geoff managed to get out, a smile tweaking his face, though he tried to keep it neutral. “You changed your mind then?”

“Maybe. I guess I just realised that Ray was right and then I got worried that you might have been telling the truth about Gavin so I wanted to check up on him myself.” Jack sniffed, looking up and away as if embarrassed and waiting for Geoff to laugh him away.

Instead he nodded and moved to one side for him to come in. “We’ll go to Gavin’s room first then and then you can decide whether to stay or not, yeah?”

Jack nodded and followed him through the house, giving a sharp intake of breath when they entered Gavin’s room and he saw the pale boy for himself. “Nothing works?” Geoff shook his head next to him, obviously worried about the boy. “Wouldn’t it be better to get him professional help?”

“This isn’t something they can deal with. Physically maybe, but the demons in his head? We might have found a way to get rid of the problem at the source; wouldn’t you like to help us with that, first? If it doesn’t work then yeah, we’ll ring the hospital. I’ll say that he felt ill this morning and we just thought he needed rest and didn’t realise we couldn’t wake him up until now.”

Jack nodded again, still thinking. “At least he is getting some rest now.”

“I hope so, but I’m not sure.”

“Alright I’m in, what are we actually doing?”

~~~~

Once Geoff had relayed the idea of the drink three times along with Michael’s help as each achievement hunter managed to make their way to the house at a different time, he was thoroughly fed up of talking and ready for getting on with it. Luckily, Ray had been the last to arrive and seeing that the other two were now convinced, he only needed the short version.

“Just to be sure, this _isn’t_ what Gavin drunk last night?”

“No, we’re not that stupid. I’d be beaten black and blue if I had given this to Gavin last night, don’t you think?” Michael quipped before raising his glass. “Bottoms up, it’s going to be a long night.” The drink took less time to take effect than the night before, Griffon helping them mix it up differently in the hopes they’d not get kicked out of the dream as easily. He closed his eyes, reopening them to find himself in the dream scape he was accustomed too, once again on his side of the barrier. He looked around, trying to sense where the portal was that Gavin had been dragged through even though it wasn’t visible. He walked forward, hand outstretched until he felt something tangible in what appeared to be thin air, knowing that ripping it would take him to wherever Gavin was waiting for them. “Right, I’ll leave that as it is for now. Don’t want to alert whatever it is before we’re ready.”

“Ready and accounted for~”

Michael jumped, spinning around to see Geoff appear from seemingly nowhere, a grin on his face that showed he was confident. “How did you-?”

“Well, I think we have Griffon to thank for that. I didn’t get sucked into my usual dreams like last time, knew I still had something important to do so I went to find Jack.” He gestured behind him, Jack walking slowly into view. “Unfortunately we all materialised on the other side of the barrier so it’s taking some time to get through.”

“What about Ray and Ryan?”

“Well, Ray’s _Ray_ , he got the hang of this the same way he does everything else. Boy’s a freaking, terrifying natural at everything, no wonder he got across the border.” Geoff’s grin widened as Ray’s disembodied voice shouted back ‘I heard that’ from behind him. “He went and found Ryan and I found them before they went anywhere else, that would have been annoying, running after each other.”

Michael nodded. “I would have had to come after you all.” He chuckled, for some reason the edge to their ‘mission’ seeming to have gone. Maybe it was the dream fuelled area giving them confidence, self-doubt after all was something you shouldn’t do in a dream if you could control that emotion. Who knew what your mind would make up to threaten you with if you did. “But before we go anywhere. The fuck are you guys wearing?”

Jack grinned as Geoff looked away with a huff. “I thought it’d feel more like a team effort in our minecraft gear. We stick to them always so it seemed appropriate. That and the chance of Gavin getting us all killed is highly likely. Geoff didn’t take much convincing.”

“Unlike you did about all of this.” Michael teased.

Jack shrugged. “I’m here now, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, that’s what matters.” Michael snorted as Ray and Ryan finally made it through. “Even down to the roses, come on guys, aren’t you going a bit far?”

“Hey, just be happy I don’t actually have nightmares about cake or anything.” Ray grinned, spinning around in his tuxedo mask costume. “Besides, I think you’d feel more confident as Mogar. It was just an experiment, you know, so we all knew how to make things out of nothing, in case we needed weapons or anything.”

“Point taken.” Michael gave in with a sigh, shifting easily with just a thought before spinning back to the empty space and feeling around for the solid aspect he’d felt earlier. “Ready?”

“As we’ll ever be.”

Michael nodded, feeling the seriousness of the situation take hold again as he tugged on the cloth like material he could feel, ripping the portal open through the middle and watching it fray into being. He took a deep breath and plunged through, shivering slightly as the world went from dank cold to warm and dry, his body taking a second to acclimatise. He blinked at the bright lighting, covering his eyes with his hand as he took in his vaguely familiar surroundings, though whether it was from a childhood dream or from their time playing video games he wasn’t entirely sure. His eyes finally accustomed to the glare and a movement made him shift into a fighting stance, the others slowly coming through the portal after him and waiting for his move. He waited, watching for movement again and saw a tiny light flickering through a tree.

“M-Michael?”

He watched as Gavin popped his head around the tree, the little light glowing a little brighter as he took them all in.

“Guys? Is it really you this time?”

“What do you mean ‘this time’?’ Ryan questioned, apprehensive. He gulped, tapping Michael on the shoulder, spotting something else lurking. “Uhh, is that who or what we were talking about?”

Michael watched Gavin turn to follow Ryan’s gaze, the little light dimming significantly again, before turning and doing the same, unable to help shuddering at the uncanny resemblance the figure now had to him even if it was still made mostly of darkness. It walked towards them, a warped grin focussing on them before it was turned to Gavin who flinched back.

“So this is where you got to, Gavin! I wondered where you ran off to. I guess I shouldn’t be angry. After all, we’ve got visitors now.”

Michael froze at the voice. _His_ voice, not just his image but his voice as well. Was it him causing all this? And if not, what the hell was this thing?

The shadow’s grin widened as Michael’s thoughts ran away with themselves.

“Let’s have some fun now, shall we?”


	7. As lights flicker, shadows grow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry ;.; I've had three different jobs lately, my first physio therapy session and started my dissertation research so yeah been a tad busy :c  
> I had this plan that I'd briefly write the whole story then I could get it to you quickly by only needing to proof-read before uploading :/ but I'm still taking too long so here is this chapter ♥ and know that I'm 2000 words into the next one ^^;

 

 

Michael gulped, his fist tightening as he watched the shadow get steadily closer, not entirely sure how to fight it, he could just attack it but there was the distinct possibility that that wasn’t the intelligent option. He instead looked over to Gavin, gesturing for him to make a run for it over to them but he shook his head in return. “ _Gavin_.” He wanted to at least be reassured that the shadow couldn’t use him as a hostage.

Gavin looked between them and the shadow, his other friends nodding in agreement and encouragement, so he took a shaky breath and darted towards them, instantly relieved when he made it to them without any trouble. If he’d been in a calmer state of mind he might have smiled at the fact that he was instantly surrounded by his suddenly protective friends. Instead he just clung to Michael’s back and shook enough to get a reassuring hand on his shoulder from Ray.

“Aww, isn’t that sweet! And so helpful…for me that is.”

Geoff glared, his chest puffing up. “Just because we’re grouped together doesn’t mean we’ll be easier to beat, asshole.” He slung one arm round Gavin’s shoulders and pulled him towards him, making his arms drop from Michael’s back. “What it _does_ mean though that I’m going to make sure you don’t come near Gavin again, you hear?”

“Oh no, that’s not it, not at all. Though you _will_ be easy to beat and I _will_ do what I want.” The shadow grinned. “But I guess it’s not that obvious for you. How about you, Michael? Can you see what’s happened?”

“What?” Michael started as he was addressed so easily, not knowing who or what this was and yet it seemed to know him. He cursed at himself a moment later for dropping his guard, feeling a sharp tug on his foot which had him stumbling forward and away from the group, though he felt a hand try to grab him back unsuccessfully.

“Have a look at Gavin for me, what do you see?”

Michael tried not to shudder as the shadow turned him around and stood behind him, close enough that he could feel a hot breath against his neck. He instead followed his lead to look at Gavin, ignoring the goose bumps on his skin. He frowned, seeing the light had grown strong again inside Gavin, but it was starting to flicker slightly. “I don’t-”

“Understand? Of course not.” The shadow sighed. “How about we show your friends what you see and see if they can make sense of it?” He clicked his fingers, the others jumping at the sudden change in vision. Michael also saw a difference, like he’d just entered a dream for the first time and had no idea who was who; a varying range of lights ahead of him instead of the people he’d seen before.

“Well, I’m starting to see why you didn’t realise it was Gavin in all these years.” Jack muttered, making himself known and coming back into a recognisable view instead of a ball of light in a translucent shell of a body.

“How come?” Michael licked his lips, suddenly nervous. “How come that’s how I see everything then and they don’t?”

“Because you always saw everything through me.” The shadow walked forward, hovering between them, separating Michael from the group. “Did you never wonder why you could do what others couldn’t? Could slip through dreams like they were nothing? Go anywhere, do anything you wanted? Stop nightmares in their tracks? Oh wait, don’t tell me, I know the answer to that. You thought it was all just in your head, your imagination playing games and you were the main character, the _hero_. You never thought you hurt anyone or did any harm. Please, human minds aren’t that nice or that complex for that matter, you’re not _special_. You just had me along for the ride. And this has always been very real.” The shadow looked down at his hands, amusement showing on its face as its hands became more corporeal, less claw-like.

“Michael?”

He glanced over at Gavin, all of his friends shifting back into view as he remembered who was who. “W-what?”

“The little light…thing, it just got dimmer.” Gavin gestured at him, obviously finding it difficult to express what he was seeing.

“Huh?” Michael looked down, seeing for the first time, his own pulsing little light. His eyes widened as it flickered almost wildly. “Wait-”

“What? You didn’t think you had one?” The shadow smirked at him. “No, no, you always had one. The only thing that made you any different was _me_. Has that not sunk in yet? I’m hurt that you don’t remember me at all, boy.”

Michael frowned, his eyes darting between the shadow and his friends who did nothing, waiting for an outcome. He didn’t blame them, they all wanted answers but he wasn’t sure he could give them. If anything he was frustrated and angry at himself more than anything, he’d let whatever this was in and now it was trying to hurt them all. He growled, unable to resist the rage taking over. He didn’t care about answers, he just wanted this over and done with and for this bastard to pay for trying to hurt his Gavin. And with that thought he slammed his fist into the shadow, not even registering the small part of his brain that replied ‘ _his?_ ’.

“Hah! Nice one, Michael! Leeeet’s go~”

Michael grinned at Ray’s call. He knew he hadn’t knocked the shadow back but this was a dream. He had the control and he wanted to prove that to this thing that was trying to make him doubt, that and he had put everything he had into that punch. He looked at the shadow in disgust as flakes of what looked like black glass fell from the impact.

“A bit too soon for a pat on the back, don’t you think?” The shadow pulled backwards, shaking his head and showing an unfamiliar face to the group. Unfamiliar to them but not to Michael, as he gasped. “Oh look! He remembers me now.”

“B-but how?”

“Easy, Michael. I don’t get what’s going on exactly but that little light of yours is going haywire which probably isn’t a good sign.” Geoff spoke up, eyeing the scene in front of him and making the decision to intervene. As much as he hated it, he’d wanted to know the full story now before he attacked, in case it had been some subconscious part of Michael, though judging from the now slightly shaking man in front of him it wasn’t what he’d been hoping to see. He looked down as his feet disobeyed his thoughts and remained firmly on the ground. “The fuck-?”

“Tsk tsk, you moving wouldn’t be very good would it? And in all honesty you all fell into my trap as soon as you saw me.” It turned back to Michael, shifting back to look like him again but this time it was less obscured, the colours lightening to grey tones. “You got here. You saw me and the effect I’d had on Gavin and your imaginations took over. You made me powerful and unbeatable just by believing it.”

“But you were- you’re just a nightmare. A child’s nightmare.” Michael spat out venomously, his frown deepened, not believing it as he rubbed his now painful fist. “You were nothing, nothing more than what my childish mind created.”

“Oh, I’m so much more than that. You really think dreams just come from inside your own head? Come on, none of you are that creative. I live in the dreamscape and I found you as a child.” He tugged Michael’s chin up so they could see his face properly, a lopsided grin on his face as he looked at the others, who only struggled harder. “He was a really cute child, would you believe?” He turned back to Michael. “You were so _hopeful_. You realise that’s what I feed off of, right? I see all those good little human emotions of yours and I break them down with fear and disgust and pure self-doubt.” He licked his lips. “Do you now get what you _see_?”

“So the little lights are, what, our self-confidence or some lame bullshit?” Ryan snorted, trying to act cocky but as he still couldn’t move from his spot it wasn’t working.

“Yes and no. It’s every positive emotion.” The thing shrugged, letting go of Michael. “I just happen to live off of making them disappear. Though, it’s better when they don’t disappear entirely, your emotions have a tendency to swing and replenish which makes a meal go a lot further. That’s why I stuck around with you, Michael. Your childish mind kept telling you it was just a dream that you could win, didn’t it? And you’d come back every night and find out you couldn’t.”

“You’re just a parasite then.” Ray took a deep breath and stepped forward confidently, much to everyone’s surprise, even the figure glared at him in shock. “What?” He looked around and grinned. “Come on. We just have to think of it as Michael’s been infected and we have to help. Unfortunately he already infected Gavin so we have that to contend with as well. But luckily the source of the problem is right in front of us.” He looked down, materialising a sword in his hand with a sound of triumph before throwing a second to Michael who caught it and laughed, his light growing strong again.

“Yeah, you’re right Ray. And you know what? I beat you already once.” Michael held the sword up to the shadow’s chest. “I was just a kid and I got tired of having nightmares and so I beat. you. down. I rage quit the nightmares.” His grin widened as the others started to grow more confident as well and managed to move. “See? We’re not that easy and I have back up to make sure you disappear for good this time.” The shadow shook his head, obviously amused making Michael fume. “What, bastard?”

“You beat me yes but you never tried to crush my existence. No you were too curious for that.” The shadow laughed, a cruel mocking bark of a sound. “I was almost impressed at the time. You _used_ me. Used my powers in the dreamscape to flit from dream to dream. I stopped being a parasite as you dared to call me; it became a more symbiotic relationship.” It turned with a snarl to Ray for a second before deciding he wasn’t worth anything else, or that it could wait until later. “You can hold the moral high ground all you want but you see, you stopped being a meal for me and instead took me to others so that they could be.” It pushed the sword to one side, grabbing Michael around the throat in one swift movement. “How does it feel? To know that you kept me alive by using my powers to go into others dreams? That not only that but it’s because of your curiosity in the little lights you kept seeing that meant I could feast on your friend?” He pointed with his other hand at Gavin, watching smugly as Michael’s eyes widened.

“What?”

“No, he’s just trying to hurt you, Michael. It’s what he does, that’s how he wins.” Gavin snapped at him.

“Aww, see? This is why he makes a good _feast_. You give him just the tiniest chance that he might be rescued, or might see you all again and his light blinks back hopeful and confident. Then I get to rip it all from him again.” The shadow dropped Michael to the floor, looking over himself. “But what’s nice is that every time you doubt yourself I grow stronger than with just the usual meal, coming back to my full potential before you stole it all from me. I just needed feeding up before I got my chance, though I think I have you to thank for that too, don’t I? After all without Gavin grabbing my hand I would have never been able to eat as well as I have over the last day.”

“It’s only been a day?” Gavin’s whisper hung heavy in the air.

“So when you said ‘is it really you this time’…” Jack gulped, not wanting to really know the answer.

“He meant that this rescue you’ve staged has happened a few times and each time I’ve dragged it away from him. That or some other horrible series of events. For someone so full of positive energy he sure has a lot of worries hidden away in that head of his.” The shadow crowed at their blanching. “But you see? He still believed it was you straight away, still hadn’t learnt his lesson.”

“You son of a bitch.” Geoff had tightened a hand on Gavin’s shoulder, almost scared he was going to doubt they were real and play more into his hand.

“You can’t do anything you know. Michael’s beaten and he holds the power here. It’s his dream.”

“Michael, don’t fuck around. Stand up.”

Michael blinked, he hadn’t even realised he was still on the floor where he’d been dropped. It was all his fault, he was the one to show up in Gavin’s dreams and take this thing with him and then he’d helped Gavin do exactly what it wanted. He shook his head, this wouldn’t do. He had to man up and take responsibility then.

“What? You’re going to try and fight back?” The shadow crouched down and lifted Michael’s chin up so they were staring at one another. “Come on, what’s the point? Do you remember how you felt the first time you saw the little glowing boy?” He tilted Michael’s head over to Gavin. “You _wanted_ him. Sure I helped, made you feel that he was in trouble but mostly it was you and your curiosity and desire for a friend to join in your adventures. That’s what let me…us, go back time and time again. You realise now how much you tortured him by doing that right? How much pain you’ve put him through?” He watched Michael gulp, speechless. “And now…you’ve done the same to all your other friends. They’re all mine now, you led them all to me. Gavin was the bait but you, you were the trap. And now everyone is where I want them. Well…” He dropped Michael’s face, standing up as he slowly shifted, the light almost fading entirely in Michael behind him as he became less monotone and more coloured, looking more and more like the real Michael with every second. He moved one hand, Ray disappearing without so much as a sound. “Now everyone is where I want them.”

“What the fuck did you just do? Bring him back.” Geoff raged, running forward before vanishing as well.

“I hadn’t wanted to that yet.” The figure sighed, shrugging. “It was a punishment for his comment. A parasite indeed. I’m so much more than that, but you guys will continue to fight me.” He looked at Michael one last time, sneering at him like he was a bug under his shoe. “Thanks for the extra meals; I’ll be needing them to leave your mind for good. You on the other hand are no longer needed; you’ve fulfilled your purpose. I guess I should thank you for that, you did well at it.”

And with that Michael felt himself get ripped excruciatingly away into darkness. He woke, gasping painfully; his chest aching like something had compressed it. He looked around, already knowing the outcome before he saw it and slammed a fist into the sofa under him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slow progress is slow but here's the background to what's been happening all in one go? Mogar's gonna be pissed and raring for action in the next scene, you can bet!  
> Oh! That and prompt wanted everyone to be kidnapped so this was how I did that :3 *cough* don't blame me *cough*


	8. Playing with fire, some can't be tamed

 

 

Michael shifted to sit up, staring at his hands as he let everything sink in completely. He closed his eyes, remembering all the childhood nightmares and then the first time he’d got so angry and just let go. He’d never had another nightmare after that but he’d never thought much into it. “Wait, is that it?” He mumbled, looking up again. The shadow took positive energy, a phrase that had never been used for Michael’s rage before. It was already starting to build up; the anger at himself for letting all of this happen but he diverted it, letting himself blame the shadow for all of it, focusing all of that rage on him instead of himself. In this state he didn’t think about anything, didn’t question what was going on, only that the shadow needed to be eradicated and he was going to do it, bullshit to it being unbeatable.The second dose of infusion was already in his mouth before he registered that two doses could be dangerous and by that point there was no turning back. He looked down at the empty cup in front of him before letting it drop and flopping backwards. “Well, fuck, I guess this was the only option anyway.”

He opened his eyes a moment later, back in his dream and darted behind a tree quickly. He poked his head around noting that even though he was in the same area he’d been before no one else was around to see. He felt around, probing his own head until he could feel the foreign entities inside it, spread around. Looks like his quest just got bigger and he now had to find each of them separately. No biggy, each quest would act as a confidence boost and once he found them, he’d make sure to get them out of here, especially if it made the shadow weaker by doing so. “Bullshit that it was all your work, I learnt along the way as well.” He grumbled to himself, glad when he didn’t get a reply. If the shadow didn’t know he was there it would make this easier and it helped him convince himself that he still held the power here.

He walked to the closest person he could feel, hoping he’d be able to tell the difference between the shadow and his other friends before he got too close. He frowned as he entered a clearing, feeling a presence but seeing nothing at all. It took a moment to see another almost invisible rip in the landscape. “Great, dreams within fucking dreams. Just what I need.” He flinched back as a tearing sound erupted without him being close to the source, a small hole in the fabric of the dream opening up and rapidly widening to its full extent. He gulped, his fists out in front of him as he waited for whatever was coming through- and was met with a bloodied and battered Geoff who stumbled forward, not seeing him.

Geoff spun back around yanking the two torn fragments of dream and wrestling them back together, shooting through the hole still left with the pistol in his hand as if making sure nothing followed him. When the hole finally sealed up he let his arm drop, panting loudly.

“G-Geoff?” Michael jumped backwards further, arms upright and hands open as Geoff turned around quickly, pistol raised instantly at Michael’s head. “Easy mate, it’s me. I’m here to help. I promise.”

Geoff stared at him suspiciously, his eyes devoid of anything. “Don’t fuck with me, shadow, I’m not in the mood. There’s no way you’d let Michael just wander around on his own.”

“I found a way back in without him knowing. This is my mind, Geoff.” Michael looked Geoff over, worried about what must have happened in his personal nightmares, his eyes scanning over the blood and realising most of it wasn’t actually his or if it was, it was obscuring the wounds. He stared at the little red light small and solid, deep in Geoff’s chest. “What happened? How did you get out of whatever it had thrown at you?”

“There’re some things you don’t fuck with. Shadow’s stupid as dicks to try those tricks in my dreams.”

Geoff’s eyes glazed over, staring blankly into the middle distance, making Michael’s insides churn. He added this new anger to the feeling already building up in his chest, feeling it strengthen him.

“That little…thing’s gone a different colour.” Geoff gestured with his gun at Michael’s chest.  “The fuck does that mean?”

“I don’t know but yours is red actually.” Michael shrugged, watching Geoff waver. “It’s me, Geoff. I don’t know how to prove that. I’m pissed as all hell and I’m getting my mind back and you guys out of here, no question. There are ways to make yourself wake up, just like the shadow can push us out. He’s been stopping you leaving I bet but now you’re out of the actual nightmare he created, I’m sure you can do it. So, just get going, I’m not going to stop you. I’ll make sure the shadow thing doesn’t either.”

“No way.”

Michael didn’t know whether to be reassured or back away further as Geoff spoke but he took the lowering of his gun to be a good sign. “No way?”

“I’m not leaving until I’ve got Gavin and the others out of here. Who knows what’s happening to the others right now, especially Ray. That shadow was pissed at him.” Geoff stuffed the pistol in a holster at his hip. “You can come along if you want but that’s up to you. Frankly I guess I’d like to keep an eye on you, just in case.”

“Can you feel the others?” Michael waited while Geoff tilted his head and nodded slowly after a moment. “Good, then if we do get split up, we won’t get lost.”

“You want to split up?” Geoff raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

“What? Fuck no. _Geoff, don’t leave me_.” Michael mock blanched, adding a little whine to his voice like he would when they were recording and he wasn’t happy with the situation he’d gotten himself into, getting the first laugh he’d heard out of Geoff for a while. Though it sounded more like a bark than his usual one and the little harsh light still hadn’t dissipated at all. “I just meant if anything happened, we’d be able to regroup easily or continue to help the others before getting back together.”

“Well, you certainly seem like Michael. Then again the shadow has lived in his head for as long as he can remember, so that doesn’t count for much, does it?” Geoff tried not to smirk as Michael’s face dropped. “Alright, alright, guess I believe you. Lead on.” Before Michael could reply, he walked in the direction of the nearest person, not saying anything until he felt Michael run up beside him.

“I thought you said lead on?”

“I did but you were too slow and I knew where I was going.” Geoff shrugged before giving Michael a friendly shoulder nudge. “Two things, kid. One, get a weapon in your hand now that you know how to use, just in case- the more realistic the better. I mean it, I know how to use one of these and it meant the shadow couldn’t put any doubts in my head about firing it.” He rested a hand on the pistol holster. “I guess you could go the other way and choose something you think would be effective but that depends on how well you think you can stay confident in using it.”

Michael nodded. “Yeah, I get it…” He hummed thoughtfully before letting his mind go the way it always did.

“A sword, really? Didn’t you and Ray try that already?”

“Hey, you said what I was confident with and I always seem to think of one of these as the best weapon in most dreams.” Michael shrugged, slipping it into a sheath on his back before thinking up something else. “This more realistic for you?”

Geoff snorted at the crow bar in Michael’s hand. “Jersey boy.”

“Well, you know, smashing Xboxes takes some effort, doesn’t it?” Michael grinned, tapping the thing in one hand before resting it up against his shoulder. “What was the second thing anyway?”

“You’re not doing well on the whole ‘not doubting yourself’ or ‘not letting others goad you into doubting yourself’. I thought it was good that your little light was a solid red, you know? It wasn’t changing at all so that probably meant the shadow couldn’t fuck with it either. But now it’s flickering back to normal, like you’re letting down your guard.” Geoff watched as Michael stopped, trying and failing to look down at his chest. “When he told us what the lights were and yours looked like it disappeared completely? It looked like you’d swapped places, like he’d _become_ you and you were turning into a shadow. Not something I’d like a repeat of, thank you very much.”

“Oh, I guess I stopped…” Michael closed his eyes, letting the feeling from earlier reignite and the picture of Geoff as he emerged from his nightmare bury itself deep in his chest.

“That’s better, what did you do?”

“I just let the anger fester again. I assume it means the shadow can’t feed off of it because it’s not positive.” Michael shrugged, glancing over at Geoff. “I’m guessing your anger’s off the chart at the moment?”

“Huh, well if it works, it works, so let’s keep using it.” Geoff ignored his question, though Michael saw the light pulse darker for a second at the thought. “I just hope the others are ok.”

 Michael gave a worried nod, looking around as they got closer. “So, who do think is closest?”

“Who knows, but getting them out of their nightmare will get us one step closer to getting out of here, right? Or at least getting them out of here if it’s the best option for them, I’m not letting anyone suffer longer than necessary if they can’t stand the heat. Not everyone gets as angry as us two and for once I don’t think that’s a good thing.” Geoff readied the gun as they got closer, making sure the chamber was fully loaded and keeping it in hand. “So, I know how I got out of my dream, but how the hell do you get into one?”

“If you know where the person is then you can search around for it, it’s like there’s texture to the air. The portal or whatever that you closed up? Imagine going back to that clearing and pulling the pieces apart again-”

“Like hell I’d want to do that.”

Michael rolled his eyes at the interruption. “Yeah, well unfortunately we’re probably going to have to launch into someone else’s nightmare quite soon. We’ll find something like that portal and have to rip it open.”

“So like that?”

Michael followed Geoff’s hand, getting frustrated and not really paying attention to the half opened portal before them. “Yeah, something like that. Geoff, are you even trying to pay attention to what I’m saying or are you going to keep interrupting?”

“I don’t know, are you going to be a retard the whole time or are you going to realise we’ve found the next person?”

Michael blinked at him for a second before it clicked and he spun back to the portal as it slowly opened, like someone was teasing back the door to peek through and check who was outside before they opened it entirely. He gulped as he felt Geoff cock the gun beside him, the feeling that a friend was about to come through quickly diminishing. “So, how are we going to go about this?”

“It might look like someone we know, Gavin said as much before. Could be a trick.”

“That’s if it looks like them at all and isn’t some nightmarish monster about to come through.” Michael slipped the sword from his back, ready and waiting, not responding to Geoff’s next words.

“But if it _is_ a nightmarish monster, what would that mean about whoever was in there with it?” Geoff was grim as the portal opened fully, a sharp surprised breath still erupting from him as a single claw tugged back the fabric, a dark large slitted eye peeking through. Worry pooled in his stomach for whoever had been in there with it but he quickly dismissed it in favour of anger. A hiss emanated from the creature, a shudder running up Geoff’s spine at the gleeful sound and from the corner of his eye he could see Michael wasn’t faring much better.

As the creatures head emerged from the portal, a single shot rang out loudly. The creature crumpled as a bullet flew through its skull and it landed in a heap on the floor before disintegrating.

“Did you just…?”

“Nope, that wasn’t me.” Geoff muttered, glancing down at the gun in his hand as if expecting it to reply that it might have.

“Thanks for that, asshole. You gave me a way out at least.”

A feeling of relief washed over Michael and Geoff at the familiar voice. “Ryan?”

“Geoff?” The voice that echoed back was cautious, though close as if Ryan had stopped just out of sight in case it wasn’t actually them.

“Yeah, it’s me and Michael, bud. We got out, just like you’re doing.” Geoff tried to make light of the situation, laughing nervously. “Though none of my demons made it easier for me to leave by showing me the way out.”

“This one wasn’t either.” Ryan had decided to trust them for now, storming quickly through the portal and sealing it up behind him quickly and efficiently, unlike Geoff’s flailing attempt. “I had a stupid moment of dreading one of these getting out and hurting anyone else, so obviously this one decided to work around that thought process.” He glared down at the ashy substance left behind by the creature, giving the pile a quick sharp kick.

“Wouldn’t have put you down for a gun kind of guy.” After Geoff’s response to asking about the nightmare Michael decided not to broach that subject so soon with Ryan, especially as the same small dark light now pulsed in his chest. As much as they joked about ‘Ryan the psychopath’ he never thought he’d actually ever see the guy truly wrathful.

Ryan looked over at Michael, his eyes giving him the once over before answering the question. “I was using everything that came to mind in there actually, just at that moment I was too far away to lash out with a melee weapon so a gun seemed better than trying to aim with a bow or something.”

Michael nodded before looking down at himself as Ryan continued to stare. “What is it? Have I got something wrong with me or what?”

“I know the light looks different but I trust this is the real Michael.” Geoff put a hand around Michael’s shoulder. “Let’s not start doubting each other.”

“Oh no, I kind of assumed it was because the shadow didn’t have a light at all, even after he shifted into Michael entirely.” Ryan shrugged. “Just wondered why it looked different, just in case I was wrong.”

Geoff and Michael glanced at each other before laughing. “Trust you, Ryan, to think logically like that.” They relayed the information they’d figured out so far to Ryan, who listened without interrupting once he’d also settled that like Geoff he was staying put until they were all safely out of there.

“What’s got you so angry mate?” Geoff’s question slipped out before he could stop it, wincing at his own words as Ryan turned to him. He hadn’t meant to ask, but they’d just spoken about the anger and keeping hold of it, his eyes flickering to Ryan’s chest.

“Some things you just don’t mess with.”

Ryan and Geoff shared an understanding look that had Michael taking a step back. He didn’t want to know what they’d gone through, the guilt starting to tug at him more than the anger and he refused to let that happen. “I’m sorry.”

“Michael, we already talked about this.” Geoff glanced at him for a second. “Anger you hold on to. Everything else? You can think about that later when we’re out of this hell hole.”

 “Well, it makes sense. It’s kind of a confident negative emotion, isn’t it? So it doesn’t drain away the positive ones like doubting does, it just locks them in place.” Ryan shrugged.

“Huh, we didn’t think of that.” Michael grinned sheepishly, guilt forgotten for the moment. “Good to have you back, Ryan. Should we go find the others?”

Geoff nodded. “I’ve been feeling around while we were talking and I think I know who’s who. Gavin’s the furthest and probably the one that’s going to need the most damage control. Ray and Jack seem equal distance from here. With just me out of my nightmare, the shadow probably didn’t feel anything, now with two out he might start to get suspicious. Going after _just_ Jack or Ray may put the other in danger because of the time it’d take us to get there.”

“Are you suggesting we split up?” Michael raised an eyebrow at Geoff, crossing his arms. “I get what you’re saying but seriously? When has splitting up ever worked? I know we said no doubting but that’s kind of hard with every single horror movie going against your idea there.”

“No, I think I have a plan, one that horror movies never use.” Ryan paused before slipping a bag off of his shoulder that the others hadn’t even noticed. “OK, the shadow is connected to Michael, right? Sure, while in my nightmare he could get into my head but I’m sure there’s a way around that now. So if I don’t tell you how everything works, Michael, it should put us at an advantage, right?”

“I guess so. What do you have in mind?” Michael bit his lip, suddenly nervous.

“In dreams we can teleport from place to place like it’s nothing, right? One minute you’re in your house, the next at work without the transition.” Ryan gave Michael a small metallic box. “What if I could control that? I could get you to teleport to me or I could teleport to wherever you are. But you can’t directly go to me, I have to do it through the control box and because you don’t know what that looks like or how it works-”

“I couldn’t make a copy of it and neither could the shadow.” Michael looked down at the little box in his hand. “What if the shadow made a copy of this?”

“He still wouldn’t know how it works so he could only make the outside of it, not the inside. Kind of like how Gavin knew that his desk was vibrating but he didn’t know how so he couldn’t stop it.” Ryan chuckled at the memory and possibly the frustration his newest prank would be causing the shadow. “We can also have earpieces so that we know if the other needs help or if everything is going as planned and we’re all ready to meet up in the middle and go after Gavin and the shadow.”

“You know sometimes, your intellect really does scare me Ryan.” Geoff took his own little box and earpiece and put them on while still smiling as Ryan shrugged again as if it was nothing. “At least it’s not just me and Michael charging in blindly again.”

“Hey, it works…sometimes. We’re just not very good with the, you know, planning side of things.” Michael huffed, checking the earpiece was working as it wasn’t perfect. “I guess we just have to believe Ryan’s the only one who can control long distance movements as well to make sure the shadow doesn’t use the idea to his advantage.”

“That’s true, good idea. I’m controller of the teleporting. Huh, sounds like I’m the one with the cheat codes for the game or something.” Ryan looked between the other two as he put the bag on his back. “So, who’s going where?”

There was a slight pause before Michael decided. “Team Gents and Team Lads, like it should be. Geoff’s known Jack the longest; he’ll know how to help him.”

“I dunno, the shadow was pissed at Ray. You might need all the help you can get.”

Michael nodded, feeling Geoff’s concern, Ray didn’t deserve whatever he was probably going through right now and if Geoff and Ryan had gone through hell he dreaded to think what it was putting Ray through. “I know but there’re three of us so either way one of us goes alone. If you’re right and Jack’s the easier option, the pair of you will be faster than just one and then instead of meeting in the middle you can come straight to me and help me with Ray, I’ll just buy some time until you can get there if need be.”

“OK that sounds reasonable. Don’t let your light flicker when you get to Ray, I have a horrible feeling they aren’t going to have fought their way through their nightmares. Jack and Ray aren’t good at going ballistic.” Ryan frowned, wondering what they were going to find.

“I know, so let’s make this quick and get them out of there and home if we need to. I’d rather they were safe and sound instead of us having some horrible hostage situation with them.” Michael turned away from the other two and closing his eyes he felt what Geoff had. Strengthening their numbers meant he had more control over his mind again and distinguishing who was who had suddenly become easier. “I’ll see you on the other side then.” He waited for a confirmation before walking forward and on his own once more.

“You better be alright when I get there, Ray.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one got looooong again...hope you enjoyed ♥  
> Oh and please correct me if I'm wrong with the xbox bit and what Michael used to break it ^^; wasn't sure~


	9. Broken toys just need some fixing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter got way too long so I split in half, next one should be up in an hour or so once I've finished proof reading, imp ♥

 

 

_“We’ve caught up to Jack, how are you doing?”_

“Seriously?” Michael stopped in his tracks, he thought he’d been making progress but he was still quite a distance from the spot he could feel Ray.

_“Yeah…what? You didn’t think up a vehicle for yourself?”_

Michael felt his face heat up. “No, but I bet Ryan thought it up for you.” A smirk crossed his face at the silence he got as a reply, confirming his suspicions, before he huffed and glanced around at the forest terrain before him, starting to continue his trek as he spoke. “The hell kind of transport can you fit through all these trees anyway? Without knocking into them every few seconds that is.”

 _“Well, luckily I’m off of it now so your comment didn’t instantly make me go into a tree, jackass.”_ Geoff’s grumble responded. _“Though you’re lucky we didn’t go with Ryan’s idea. He was wondering about a tank and just knocking all the trees over as we went but we thought that might slow us down.”_

“Yeah, don’t kill off the plant life in my dream world if you have the choice, k?” Michael winced at the thought of them steamrolling his mind, wondering if it’d give me him a headache. An idea clicked with a grin. “Keep me posted, I’ll get moving faster to make sure nothing happens to Ray if the shadow notices you’re with Jack.” He picked up the pace, slipping into a run and then a sprint easily. _You’re already asleep – you can’t get **tired** , so just keep moving. _He was shocked at how easy it was to bypass his normal responses, not even feeling himself get out of breath as he pelted at his fastest speed, dipping and diving around the trees.

~~~~

“Yeah, yeah, just get there, we’re entering Jack’s dream now. No sign of someone trying to get out…” Ryan tried not to let his concern show through but he knew he was failing. He let it slide, helping Geoff pull apart the portal pieces.

“Urgh, I would never wish my nightmares on anyone, so I’m not looking forward to seeing anyone else’s.” Geoff grumbled, pushing through into the unknown dream without hesitation that had Ryan, the more cautious of the two, running after him instead of assessing the situation like he’d wanted to.

They both blinked as they found themselves in the clearing they’d been in earlier, where they’d first found Gavin and everything had gone wrong.

Geoff’s blood ran cold as he saw the crumpled lifeless body in front of them. “G-Gavin?”

_“Gavin? The hell are you talking about, Geoff? He’s nowhere near you.”_

Geoff took a step back as Michael spoke in his ear, grounding him again as his heart thumped. He took stock of everything, remembering and feeling how far away they still were from Gavin and giving a shaky sigh of relief. “Ignore me, Michael. Getting jumpy, that’s all.”

“Remember Geoff, get angry. This means that Jack probably had to watch that and thought it was real, just like you just did.” Ryan turned away from the sight ahead, ignoring it as best he could. He turned off his earpiece’s microphone and gestured for Geoff to do the same. He wasn’t sure Michael should hear some of this until they were in the clear. “We need to find Jack, get him out of here and make sure he understands everyone is still alive at the very least.”

Geoff nodded, repeating Ryan’s process with the ear piece while wishing he could get the image out of his head even if it wasn’t real. He closed his eyes, feeling a steady pulse to their left though it was dwindling slowly. “You’re right, let’s get him.” He stumbled that way, trying hard not to move any closer to the body as he wound through the trees.

“ _Fuck-_ No wait, don’t turn around Geoff.”

Geoff froze, feeling Ryan stop behind him. “What?”

“No, sorry, it’s nothing, let’s keep going. Just whatever you do, don’t turn around.” Ryan pushed into the small of his back, keeping him going forward. “I couldn’t keep my mouth shut, sorry, mistake.”

“Seriously, what did you see?” Geoff snapped, pushing his hand off and continuing forward. He glanced back for a second, seeing a leg peeking out from behind a bush. He couldn’t see much else other than blood dripping from the tree behind it and a steady small pool trailing. He shuddered, glad they’d managed to miss it and weren’t walking in someone’s blood before it dawned that Jack had seen yet another one of them die. He felt a smack to the head which had him snarling and about to shout when he noticed Ryan’s glare.

“I told you not to look back, didn’t I?”

“Who was it?”

“Me.” Ryan didn’t go into any more detail than that, even if he was having a hard time shaking off the feeling of looking into his _own_ dead eyes. “This shadows got one vivid fucking imagination.”

“Tell me about it.” Geoff tried not to imagine what Ryan had just seen, his own imagination probably making it worse from the small snippets he’d seen. “I don’t get it though, I was transported to a completely different place, why is Jack’s dream still, well…here?”

Ryan didn’t have a chance to reply as they heard fighting up ahead and took that as their moment to charge forward. They peeked through the trees, seeing Jack below them at the bottom of a hill, his back to a rock. He had a shield on one arm, but the barrage of blows was weakening it hit by hit and it seemed to mirror the light inside him as it flickered lower and lower with every movement of his adversary’s mouth. It wasn’t until the person Jack was fighting, turned slightly that Ryan got a good glimpse of him, making him gasp. “Holy shit, Geoff is that-”

“Me. He’s fighting me.” Geoff’s eyes were wide as he took in the scene; he almost couldn’t recognise himself, his face contorted into a twisted mocking grin, all gritted teeth and a sharp tongue to match from the way Jack winced at his every word. A laugh echoed through the chasm and Geoff shuddered, suddenly understanding how people could tell when he was about to fuck with someone from his laughter. Though this sounded more hysterical, more insane, like someone had flipped a switch and his demeanour had changed entirely. He grit his teeth with a sound of fury making Ryan jump. How _dare_ the shadow use an image of him to break his friend down. How dare it use him in any way at all. “Who the fuck does he think he is picking on Jack like that? Only _I_ get to do that, not some fake me.” And with that he jumped forward, taking the downhill slope in one dive and roll before firing off shots in quick succession into the back of himself. Which made his stomach twist oddly as he realised just what he’d done to himself, even if it was fake. He gulped as it turned around, hissing loudly and looking less like him by the second.

“G-Geoff?” Jack’s small voice sounded from behind the thing though no one could pay him much mind until this was over.

“Thank god for that, I don’t think I could have hit it while it was still looking like you.”

Geoff jumped backwards as an axe was plunged into the monster in front of him, the creature gargling as it tried to lash out at the offending item. He used the moment to shoot it again, but it wasn’t going down, even with Ryan trying to tug the axe back out for another swing. “The hell? Why won’t it just die?”

“Useless, spineless, good for nothing.” The creature hissed and howled, as it tried to dislodge Ryan and focus on Geoff’s shots.

“Shut up!” Jack roared from behind it all, a sword going through the creature’s chest with an audible rip and breaking of bones. He gave a shuddering gasp at the same time it drew it’s last, shaking as he comprehended what he’d just been forced to do. “Shit. I stabbed Geoff. I was trying so hard not to…but then I did.” He slumped back down, staring at it as it slowly shifted to look like Geoff again; he didn’t even notice the other two.

“No, don’t you dare turn back into me, asshole.” Geoff kicked the thing, getting a whimper from Jack. “Easy bud, it’s not me, I promise. I’m right here.” He squatted down in Jack’s eye line, making sure that Jack could no longer see the body at the same time. “See? Right here. Still alive and kicking.” When Jack still didn’t respond, he pressed forward, grabbing his shoulder. “Does this feel fake? For fucks sake will you just look at me?”

_“Guys, what’s going on? Have you found Jack yet?”_

Geoff glanced back at Ryan at the voice, who walked a few paces away, giving him chance to talk to Michael and Geoff to talk to Jack. He turned off his earpiece completely, knowing that Jack needed his full attention at that moment.

“His sword didn’t feel fake either.” Jack said cautiously, though Geoff took it as encouragement that he was responding. “Everyone else is dead, it was just me and Geoff left but the shadow got to him first, made him snap.”

Geoff sighed, realising Jack didn’t understand that it was all an illusion, or if he did he thought this Geoff was still part of it. “Start at the beginning, mate. What’s happened to you since I was transported to my own version of hell?”

“The shadow made Ray, then Geoff and then Michael disappear.” Jack shook. “He said he didn’t need Gavin anymore so he just-” He licked his lips, trying to distance himself from it. “The shadow just reached out and broke- Gavin just _crumpled_ to the ground- he wouldn’t get up, I tried to get him to, but he wouldn’t.”

Geoff winced at the look he got, a pleading look that wanted Geoff to believe him. “I know you did, I know. What next?”

“Me and Ryan made a run for it but he got Ryan too. I wondered what the shadow was doing. I mean if it wanted us to feed on, why was it killing us off so quickly? But all I could see were Gavin and Ryan’s lifeless bodies so I was obviously wrong about why it wanted us. I tried to go after the others, find Ray and Michael and get them safe before they went the same way but every time I found someone I was helpless to stop them from getting hurt.” Jack looked down at his hands, his fists tightening. “ _Every time_ , I was too late or just couldn’t help.” He punched the floor, letting out his anger but it was all aimed at himself, the light flickering again.

“Ok, easy, easy, don’t feed him any more than you already have.” Geoff waved Ryan over; licking his lips before he spoke in what he hoped was a reassuring fashion. He pulled Jack’s chin up so that he wasn’t staring at the floor or his hands and instead was pointed to look at Ryan and see that he was in fact alright. “See? You were right. He wouldn’t kill us off that easily. He wants us alive but he realised that the only way to get to you was to make it realistic. Me? I went to a completely different place, I was back in Austin in my nightmares but if he’d done that to you, you would have known something was up. He knew you were smarter than me, so he left you here, made you think you hadn’t been thrown into a nightmare yet when you already had been. Everyone is safe and sound, albeit a bit broken from their own dreams but they’re certainly not dead in yours.”

“Ryan? You’re ok?”

“Yeah and so is Gavin. We just need to find him, just like before and get out of here quickly.” Ryan crouched down as well, ruffling Jack’s hair. “Nice shield by the way.” He glanced at Geoff, a look of urgency in his eyes. “I think we need to get going, if Jack’s up for it.”

“Yeah, needed it against Geof- the Geoff look alike?” Jack glanced down at the thing on his arm before tilting to look around Geoff though he felt hands pushing him back, keeping him as safe as they could. He gripped Geoff’s forearm as he gave in and stopped trying to check the dead thing wasn’t really him. “It really seemed like you though.”

“Oh? The monster looked like me, thanks, Jack, really helps my self-esteem that does.” Geoff half-grumbled, pulling the man up with him as he stood up. He didn’t want to freak him out or hurt him anymore but it sounded like Michael could use some help if Ryan’s hinting was anything to go by. “We need to move, mate. You up for it?”

“No. Not just looked like.” Jack shook his head. “It was you. Like you if your own nightmares had broken you.” He looked at Geoff, hard, as if trying to check for that same gaze he’d seen in the other’s eyes. “Your eyes were dead and you were attacking everything, everything in front of you.”

Geoff stayed silent, wondering what Michael would say if he was there at that moment. After all, he probably had looked like that to him when he’d come out of his nightmare, hell, he’d even turned on Michael in case he was another illusion. Instead of replying he gestured forward, pulling Jack to move with him and get him out of there, letting the words wash over him as they went.

“Then you saw me, and you _sneered_. You couldn’t believe I was still alive and then you got angry, blamed me, told me that I hadn’t even tried to help anyone else.” Jack pulled away from Geoff, shuffling back further as he did so.

“And every word hurt more than the actual blows.” Ryan sighed, watching the other two look at him. “The shadow played you, Jack. It wanted you to feel helpless and doubt yourself and then it sent in one of your friends – a fake version, yes, but a good one.” He added before Geoff could argue. “To finish the job. All he had to do was think about what you’d expect Geoff to say to you and then watch as he beat you down. It was probably for the twisted irony of not having to do anything but watch as one friend turned on another. Or even if you had broken through and snapped, you would have killed your friend and destroyed yourself from the inside out. But you know what?” He walked forward, grabbing both of Jack’s shoulders and looking him dead in the eye. “You didn’t hurt anyone, you conquered your fear. That’s what you did, nothing less than that, you just needed a little push in the right direction.”

“You mean the monster needed a few shots to the head.” Jack gave a soft smile, his shoulders slumping with the released tension.

_“Ryan, I found Ray… could definitely use you guys if you could hurry it up.”_

“What do you mean? You only just found him? But…” Geoff glanced at Ryan who just looked at him with an ‘I told you we had to move’ look. “Alright, we’re on our way. What’s been happening while I’ve been preoccupied?”

_“Ryan will have to fill you in, I’ve got a lot on my plate now- Ray’s- he’s not doing so well, Geoff.”_

“What’s happening? Who are you talking to?” Jack looked between the pair before Ryan grabbed him an earpiece and gave it to him. He gave a relieved little sigh at Michael’s voice, even if it was panicked. “Michael, good to hear you, mate.”

_“You too, Jack. I’ll see you soon, yeah?”_

“Course, you will.” Jack finally noted the strain in his voice and turned to Ryan and Geoff whispering. “What’s up?”

“Apparently Ray’s in a bad way but now I’m suspicious about whether it’s him or a trap for Michael. We need to get there fast.” Geoff turned to Jack, holding his gaze. “That is unless you want to wake up. We can do that now, you know? Get you out of this hellhole of a nightmare. I know I want to. After all you wouldn’t be in this fucking mess if I hadn’t forced you into it. And I know I did, I got angry and upset when you didn’t want to come, and I put the pressure on you.”

Jack shook his head, feeling the guilt more than seeing it on Geoff’s face, though he always could read him like an open book. “No one forced me, I just needed some time to think about it all before I agreed. It was seeing Gavin that pushed me to it.” He hefted the shield back on his arm, feeling a strength he didn’t know was there anymore rise up in him. “Besides, after all this-” He gestured around his dream. “I don’t think I could sit patiently in the real world and hope everything was ok. It would make me feel like the shadow had been right about me the whole time.” He took a deep breath, stepping ahead of the other two. “Let’s go find Ray and Michael and get everyone home safe and sound. You guys could use your medic, after all.”

“Good to have you back to your normal self, Jack.”

“Good to be back.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of noticed in games that Jack seems to go for the medic if there's a choice of class *shrugs* I have an idea for all of them so I'll go into that in the next ones notes when the Ray chapter is up. Thanks for reading, x


	10. A Ray of light ignites when Mogar falls

 

 

Michael skidded to a halt outside Ray’s nightmare, tripping over his own feet because he’d turned on the breaks too quickly. It took a moment to find it, hidden on one of the trees that made him feel like he was walking into a hollow tree trunk instead of a new dream. He took a deep breath, happily surprised when he wasn’t out of breath. “Not the most graceful of entrances but I’m sure Ray will understand.” He muttered to himself as he took one step in, not bothering to check through first. After all there was only one option- straight ahead, so if there was anything untoward waiting for him he was just going to have to man up and face it. A shiver ran down his spine, his hands instantly ahead of him as the darkness blinded him. “Shit, did I just walk into the tree or is this it?” He stepped forward, feeling nothing ahead of him even with his arms fully extended. He swept them sideways, sword still in hand and gave a wince at the loud metallic ring that suddenly assaulted his ears. He walked left and right, feeling a wall on either side of him that gave him only two options – get out of the dream now, or keep walking forward. “Well, dark and claustrophobic, just great, fucking super.” He ignored the little voice in his head that said he was talking to himself because he was nervous and ventured forwards, keeping both weapons now in his hands and swaying them slightly so he’d know if he came into contact with anything. Something was off other than just the dark and silence but he couldn’t put his finger on it so he pushed it to the far recesses of his mind. The route ahead suddenly ended and he had the sudden realisation that this could be a maze, the two side routes now opening up. “Well, shit. How do I-? Oh for fucks sake, moron. Just feel out for him.” He waited in the silence for a bit before he realised why he was so on edge, why the darkness seemed to push in on him, heavy and stifling. Like something was telling him to go back, to just leave it, nothing living could be here in this empty place. He couldn’t feel Ray anywhere, no small glimmer to point him in the right direction. But he’d definitely been here when he’d walked here, had he been just a moment too late?

“Guys, what’s going on? Have you found Jack yet?” He quickly held down the button to call in his ear, hoping that the others were on their way. He waited for a moment, worried. The last thing he’d heard from them was something about Gavin but he couldn’t be sure what they’d meant.

_“Yeah we have, just had to battle some…thing to get to him. Geoff’s trying to get him back on his feet. He’s not in great shape, right now. Have you found Ray?”_

Michael cursed, trying not to stomp and get frustrated. “No-yes, well I’ve found the nightmare opening at least but nothing else. I can’t feel him anymore.”

_“You can’t feel him? What at all?”_

“No, not at all, Ryan. Can you feel where am I still? I just want to know if-” The rest of the sentence was lost, he didn’t want to say ‘if you can feel him’ and the implications there would be if he couldn’t.

_“I can feel you but not Ray. Please tell me that doesn’t mean what I think it means?”_ Ryan’s voice was small and worried, as if he was trying not to let Geoff or Jack see how nervous he suddenly was.

Michael closed his eyes. “I’m not sure what it means but I could really use you guys ASAP just in case, who knows what I’m going to run in to. I’ll keep looking for him; I’m just in a fucking pitch black labyrinth with no idea which turns to take.” He growled, slamming his hand into the wall nearest to him, feeling his anger bubbling again.

_“Left ones. Always take the left turn in a labyrinth.”_

“Really?” Michael glanced up before laughing ironically as he realised that looking around just disorientated him.

_“Yes, don’t doubt me, hug the left wall and it should take you to the middle of the maze.”_ Ryan sounded offended at the very thought. _“I need to help Geoff now so that we can get to you. Oh, and get yourself a fucking flashlight or something you idiot.”_

Michael heard the buzz on the other end of the earpiece that signalled Ryan had disappeared before he could give back a witty retort. Not that he had one; he could feel his face heating up at the thought. “Stupid fucking…” He rifled around in his pocket for one, imagining that he had a small head light and finding one there. He grinned, slipping it on so that his hands were still free for his weapons and flicked it on and off a few times.

_“See? Now it’s a flashlight.”_

He laughed at the memory of Gavin, suddenly feeling like the darkness was a lot less suffocating and he took a step forward, keeping a hand on the left wall as he did so and followed it round without even glancing at any other openings. He ignored any feeling he had about how long it was taking, when the darkness seemed to loom back in at him, always flicking the light on and off for good measure to keep the dark thoughts at bay. He stumbled over a rock, skittering forward and making a loud clattering noise. A whimper returned to him that had him pausing and glancing up at the small room he found himself in. There were four pathways into it, the one closest to his having bloodied footsteps trailing through it and into the centre of the space. He licked his lips, glancing at where they ended, just outside what looked like a large wardrobe if the small light was anything to go by. “R-Ray?”

There was no response, so he took another step forward, looking around all the while. He could feel the area was dangerous, it didn’t take much intellect to realise that the area was one ripe for an ambush, you’d need someone to be able to watch each pathway into it and with just him for now those weren’t very good odds. He gave another spin around as he went, slowly stalking up to the middle, all the while checking for any attack before he finally turned his back on the room, his hand closing around the door handle. He gave himself a count, opening the door with sword raised before the sight in front of him made him drop his sword with a clatter. “ _Ray.”_

Ray shuffled back as far as he could from the light; trying to press himself into the back of the small space he was in as if he hoped he’d disappear just by willing it, his eyes tightly shut.

Michael knelt down in front of him, gulping at the state of him, until his eyes hit his chest and saw there was no light at all there, not even a flicker. He let the light trail up him again, up to his face even though it made Ray wince. “Easy there, it’s alright now.” He spoke shakily, understanding what Geoff meant now entirely, Ray looked more like a shadow of himself instead of the real person, like too much had been taken from him. “Come on, Ray. It’s me.”

Ray didn’t answer, though he did open his eyes a bit, narrowing them as he took in the light, his pupils constricting too quickly at the sudden brightness.

Michael sighed, standing up and turning away from him. “Ryan, I found Ray…though I could definitely use you guys if you could hurry it up.”

_“What do you mean? You only just found him? But…”_ Geoff’s voice sounded through the line, making Michael sigh with relief; it meant he was done with Jack. _“Alright, we’re on our way. What’s been happening while I’ve been preoccupied?”_

“Ryan will have to fill you in, I’ve got a lot on my plate now- Ray’s- he’s not doing so well, Geoff.” Michael looked back down at Ray who was staring up at him as if he was taking in what he was saying but at a slower pace than usual. “His…light’s gone out. I’m not exactly sure what to think of that.”

_“What if it’s not him? Could be a trap, Michael.”_

“Yeah well what else am I meant to do? Leave him here? No, I’m sure it’s him. I’m just not sure what to do to help him.” Michael growled, kicking at the floor. If he couldn’t help Ray then it meant he had to kick the shadows ass all the harder for this, or even if he could help him, the state he was in was enough to make sure the shadow paid for it.

_“Michael, good to hear you, mate.”_

Michael almost laughed hysterically at the calm tone Jack had, as if this was a social call. Though he’d admit he was happy to hear that tone even if it was out of place. “You too, Jack. I’ll see you soon, yeah?”

_“Course, you will.”_

Michael clicked his earpiece off again before turning back to Ray who was staring at him as if he was a mirage, his mouth open slightly. “Hey X-Ray, how you doing?”

“Michael?”

Michael inwardly winced at the rasping sound he got back but tried not to show it exteriorly, smiling instead. “Of course, who else would it be?” He sat down on the edge of the wardrobe, shuffling in slightly when Ray made room for him and putting the headlight above them to illuminate the small box. “You want to wake up? I can do that if you want, get you out of here.”

“I don’t think he’ll let me.” Ray whispered, seeming to shrink again, though he jumped as Michael put a hand over his.

“Keep calm. Nothing’s going to happen to you.” Michael stared at him until he calmed down. “Good. You wanna talk about it?”

Ray shook his head. “I wouldn’t know where to start. Just don’t go down there.” He pointed towards the bloodied footsteps and then glanced at his feet, shuddering at the damp substance still stuck to them. “I can’t seem to do anything right here.”

Michael tilted his head, trying to grin at him. “You? The one who picks everything up within seconds? Since when have you not been able to do something right first, or even second time round?” He sighed as Ray shrugged in response, as if nothing mattered anymore. “Alright, you can’t talk about it. So how about I go down there and take a look for myself? Show you there’s nothing down there that Mogar can’t beat for you.”

“No, you’ll get slaughtered.” Ray shook his head pitifully.

“You don’t believe in me?” Michael huffed as Ray shook his head. “All right, non-believer. I’ll prove to you that I can stop anything because this is just a dream and it can’t really hurt you.” He picked up his sword and stood up, only stopping when he heard a small voice behind him.

“Is everyone else OK?”

“Yeah, well, alive and kicking and itching for a fight, so if that constitutes as OK, I think so.” Michael shrugged, before continuing down the pathway, realising after a few moments that he’d left the light behind with Ray. “Oh well, if it makes him feel better it’ll be worth it.”

He trailed down the path for a few moments before he felt it widen out again. A light flickered overhead making him flinch at the lightning flash of light. He tried not to gag at what it illuminated, seeing snippets of the gore ahead of him. He licked his lips, feeling the presence of rising panic, but he noted that it wasn’t his own. He stopped, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from and recognised with a jolt it was residue left behind by Ray. He walked to where it was, suddenly becoming enclosed in the memory, a keep safe maybe the shadow had kept to make Ray relive the moment over and over again. He glanced around, seeing Ray beside him, sword in hand, their friends all splayed out around the room, separated but still there and monsters surrounding them, all sharp glistening claws and teeth. All this was taken in only whenever the light above decided to flick back on, the room taken in snapshots of light and sudden movements. He instinctively sliced at something in front of him before remembering it was a memory as the sword slid through without resistance. He dropped his hand, watching Ray do the same but every time the light flickered he realised that Ray hadn’t hit a single target. Soon bullet holes and arrows lined the walls but all just above head height, none reaching their objective. And all the time the floor was becoming saturated with blood from either Ray or one of the others, screams echoing through the darkness.

He stepped back out of the memory with a gasp as the past Ray finally broke; his light extinguished and ran from the room. He slammed something into the wall, not knowing what in a sudden fit of rage. The shadow had broken Ray, made him doubt everything about himself and showed him that it didn’t take much to do so and then once he was broken he’d just left him to it, a broken toy that he didn’t want to play with anymore, knowing he wouldn’t be a problem now that he was taken care of. Michael grit his teeth. He was going to make sure Ray was the most problematic asshole that he could be. He stormed back into the other room. “Ray?”

“Michael? You’re still OK?” Ray’s head popped around the door, sitting up at least instead of huddled inside.

“Yeah, nothing to worry about out there for Mogar. You gonna get out of there at some point?” Michael ran through everything in his head, wondering how you made someone determined again when all their positive energy was gone. He looked Ray over again, smiling at the little light that had appeared, obviously Michael’s presence had got him thinking or at least accepting that everyone else was still alright.

“Huh? Oh I guess.” Ray went to stand up before looking behind Michael and shuffling suddenly back in, the light snuffed as soon as Michael had seen it. “You led one of them here!”

Michael glanced back quickly, a snarl alerting him as much as Ray’s reaction. He growled at the newcomer. “Just when I was making progress, asshole. What shadow? Don’t want me fixing your toy?” He shouted at nothing, glancing up before calling through the earpiece. “Being attacked, Ray’s still not ready to fight. How’s it going?”

_“On our way, the device Ryan made put up outside the portal so we’re on our way through.”_

Michael nodded to himself and returned to the problem in hand, thrusting forward without hesitating and slicing the thing in half, grimacing at the black goo that splattered on him. “That’s what you get, bastard.” He laughed victoriously, the sound dying quickly as more snarls sounded, some in front, others behind from the other pathways. “Well that’s perfect that is.”

Within moments, Michael was smacking down everything around him, back to the wardrobe with doors closed so that Ray was safe and he had something to keep his back guarded. It did however mean he was cornered and blocked in on all sides, trying to cut himself a path through them if all else failed. He shoved forward giving himself some space.

“Michael, you still alright out there?”

“Yeah, course I am, you betta not be doubting me, Ray.” Michael laughed, panting at the exertion but feeling confident in himself, especially knowing the others were on their way. “Though if you’d like to help me, I wouldn’t complain about the extra help.” He didn’t say anything when there was no reply, instead carrying on against the barrage ahead, wishing slightly that he had a shield instead of two weapons but feeling like changing one would take too much time in the circumstances.

“I don’t think I’d be much help.”

Michael grit his teeth, slamming the crowbar into the teeth of his nearest opponent. “Yeah well, I think you’d do a damn great job of watching my back, you always have done before. The shadows done a good job at making you forget that. I want to say you shouldn’t have pissed him off but honestly? I think we all need to piss him off a hell of a lot more but make sure he can’t find a way around our guards.” With each word he carried on slicing, letting his anger enter every strike and knowing it hit its mark with a grim satisfaction. He heard a click behind him, knowing that the door had opened but as no one came to his aid he decided Ray was just watching, checking that the creatures really could be beaten. He stood up straight as the last one fell, stretching out his now tired muscles and feeling like he could sleep for a week, which was disconcerting given the situation. “There? See? Nothing to worry about.” He looked back at Ray with a smile, not taking in Ray’s expression at all.

“Behind you-”

Pain. Suddenly that was all Michael could feel. He looked down, seeing a claw extending through his chest, making him gasp and struggle. He’d missed one or it had come in after he’d let his guard down, but either way it had got him. He pushed forward, off of it, holding his chest as if he could force it back together through sheer willpower but the litany of _there’s a hole in me, I can’t stop the blood_ was stopping him from fixing it.

“Michael!”

A blinding light forced his eyes shut because of the sudden shift from murky gloom that he’d become accustomed too, the pain stopping his thoughts from running smoothly though there was registered panic that there was more than one creature coming towards him and Ray while he sat there helpless. A gunshot rang out, followed by two more in quick succession and he let himself feel relieved, reassuring himself that at least the cavalry had arrived and would get Ray out of there.

“Michael? Michael, answer me!”

Michael groaned, looking up at the voice before it registered that it was Ray not Geoff or Jack shouting at him. He blinked up at Ray standing directly above and in front of him, just like he had done outside the wardrobe earlier for him, arms outstretched with a gun in both hands to stop the recoil from messing up his shots too much, the blinding light Michael had seen earlier radiating from his chest. “Three head shots? Told you, you had it in you.” He grinned as Ray glanced down, eyes full of concern though he didn’t move from his spot until Michael couldn’t stop himself from coughing which had him doubling over at the pain it caused.

“Yeah, guess I do still have it in me. But right now you need to stop talking and let me fix you up.” Ray swore as he heard more monsters coming out of the woodworks, having just crouched down to assess the damage to Michael’s chest. “Fuck, now what?”

"One minute he's telling me to talk, the next to be silent." Michael tried to smile but it came out as more of a grimace, one Ray saw through instantly so he stopped. “We hold up until the others get here.” He said grimly, trying not to cry out as Ray pulled him along to prop him up against one of the doors of the wardrobe. He took the gun out of Ray’s hands and held it ahead of him, trying to ignore the way his vision blurred every so often. “I’m not going down this easily.”

“But-”

“No ifs, no buts, no doubts. Get me through this Ray, I know you can.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so a few things~ One - I sat staring at the word flashlight wanting to put torch so much throughout this chapter ;.; so Gavin did it for me when I remembered their survivors letsplay.
> 
> Also the wardrobe...I just have this adorable sad image of Ray all curled up like a kid in the bottom of one...think I've been reading the RT baby AU waaaay too much ^^;
> 
> The other thing I spoke about last time -  
> I see the AH boys with certain attributes in games. Ryan's the smart one, the builder or the engineer as well as just being able to point the others in the right direction because he thinks things through more. Geoff's the marksman, more because of seeing him in the immersion zombie headshots video but I think it suits him too, also kind of the leader of our ragtag renegades. Michael's more headstrong, more likely to run in there sword flailing and not pay attention to defense - though he is more of a Jack of all trades in some games they play, I just think he does the best when he's Mogar. Jack as I said seems to be the medic but also can seem him as a heavy character - like a knight if needed. Ray...well guess I should wait until him and Gavin come back into it more but I'm sure you guys have your own ideas for them ;p.
> 
> And I'll stop babbling now, sorry just wanted to explain. See you all soon with the next chapter x oddly the epilogue/last chapter is easier to write at the moment than the middle bits *huffs*


	11. A Glittering torch of Determination

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was tempted to call this 'no ifs, no buts, no doubts' but well I think this suits it just as much :3  
> Oh! And there's fanart! I found fanart on tumblr, I'm so chuffed! Go check it out here http://bluestrawberryiii.tumblr.com/post/57013473610/this-one-time-i-hit-post-limit-right-after unless i figure out how to post it at the end of the chapter for you all to see how cool it is!

 

 

“Right, no ifs, no buts but how about hows? Like _how_ the fuck am I meant to fix you up and keep us both safe from the things about to attack us?” Ray licked his lips, pitch slightly raised as his eyes flickered from Michael bleeding to the snarls and snaps that echoed through the room, not helping them in telling which direction the creatures were coming from as the sound reverberated off the walls.

“Well, I have a gun. I think I can help, you know.” Michael tried to look affronted at Ray’s complete dismissal of him.

“Yeah well you also have a hole running through you. If we weren’t in a dream-” Ray stopped himself from saying the rest of that sentence, knowing it wasn’t a good thought route, though Michael seemed to catch on if the little light flicker said anything about it. “Sorry, never mind. Right, you keep an eye out for anything coming, I’ll have a look in there.” He nodded up at the wardrobe Michael was leaning against, pulling the other door open before Michael could say anything.

“Wait, how will that help?” Michael raised an eyebrow in disbelief though he did as told, one hand across his chest to stem the flow of blood and the other raised ready for anything about to attack, his eyes flicking over to Ray every so often, wondering what had changed so suddenly in him.

“I’m going to look for a med kit; they’re normally in places you’d think to explore, right?” He stood up on his tiptoes, arm outstretched as far as possible to feel around in the top shelf. He gave a shout of success when his hand closed around a bag and he pulled it down to see the customary red and white cross.

“Ray?”

Ray frowned at the sudden serious quality to Michael’s tone. “What, Michael?”

“You realise shouting might not have been a good idea, right?” Michael gulped, licking his lips as he listened intently.

Ray stopped, tilting his head to listen. The snarling had stopped entirely, an eerie silence following. “You think we were actually hidden until-” A large howl and the scuffling of heavy footsteps had his blood running cold, his words coming to a stuttering halt. “Well…I’m sure they would have found us either way?” He tried to smile apologetically as he ducked back down next to Michael, opening the kit quickly.

“Yeah, maybe they’d have sniffed out the blood.” Michael hissed, biting his lip as Ray pried the fabric off of the wound, the sticky quality already making it feel like Ray was doing more than just that. He tried to look back at Ray at the sharp intake of breath he heard, realising belatedly that he’d turned his head away from the pain. “How’s it look?” His voice was shaky but he knew he couldn’t really do anything about that.

“Not too bad, just a big fuck off hole. Nothing I can’t fix.” Ray ruffled his hair while grinning reassuringly. “Then you can have a lollipop, or some shit.”

“How are you doing that?” Michael could feel his breath getting shallower but one of the creatures finally found its way to them and he left Ray to get on with what he needed to, aiming instead at the thing getting ready to lunge at them, firing four shots before it finally went down. “Fuck, I can’t aim for shit like this.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about but I could ask you the same.” Ray pointed an approving look at the dead creature. “After all, you just gunned something down while seemingly bleeding to death on the floor. Not that you are bleeding to death by the way. Well you would be if I wasn’t here.”

“Yeah well focusing on them is keeping me distracted from what you’re doing and therefore calmer.” Michael pulled the gun back, adding a few modifications while Ray looked at him questioning. “I think a silencer might be good in this situation, right?”

“Hah, good idea.” Ray looked down at the med kit one more time. “Right, herbs, old school style.”

“Again, ignoring your dubious medical skills entirely in favour of distractions.” Michael swallowed, tasting blood. “Answer my question. One minute you were completely out of it, the next your lights flickered back to life- and not just that but blindingly so and you’re firing off bullets and keeping me alive. How does that happen?” He fired shots again as something moved in another corridor, smirking victoriously at the whine he got as a response.

“Did it go out completely then?” Ray looked down, disappointed. “I couldn’t keep up with it all- it was just too much, I snapped and ran, I’m sorry.” He felt the kick more than saw it, smiling slightly. “Yeah, yeah, I’m here now, right?” He grinned, crushing up the herbs as he went before shrugging. “I guess I just saw you get hurt and I realised unlike the other ones, this wasn’t an illusion, this was you actually getting hurt. And well, I’m not really thinking or doubting, I’m just doing what I have to. There’s no choice in the matter.”

“Huh, interesting.” Michael let his head fall back for a second on to the wooden door. “I guess concern and determination are positive emotions. Much purer emotions than what’s keeping me running.” He opened one eye, noting the solid white light in Ray’s chest, unchanging, unmoving and now understood it was because Ray knew he had to do this, had to keep going and there was no room now for wimping out. Before the shadow had held all the cards, it didn’t matter what Ray did the odds were stacked against him, he wouldn’t have been able to save the illusions from what happened, even if he had been confident. But this time wasn’t an illusion and it gave Michael a sense of pride that even though the shadow had lived inside him for so long his friends could still see who was the real one with just a little bit of time. “Good to know you don’t think I’m another nightmare, otherwise you might have just left me to it.”

“Even a dream version of you, I don’t think I would have left. Probably why I played so easily into the shadow’s hand.” Ray scooped up the mixture he’d made into his hand. “Right, this might hurt a bit so let’s keep you occupied. What’s keeping you going if it’s not concern for us lot?”

“That’s not a bad thing, and he hit you hard mate. You pissed him off calling him a parasite.” Michael sat up straight, tensing himself up ready. “And isn’t it obvious? There’s that too of course but it’s the anger that’s keeping me from falling. I’m going to rip the bastard apart and I won’t let anyone stand in my way, not with the way he’s treated all of you lot.”

“And for the way he’s treated you, I hope.” Ray muttered, pushing the poultice onto the wound in one quick movement.

“Nice guy Ray, keeping my head together, well, and body.” He gestured down just as Ray pressed down on the wound and a spiral shot of extra stinging pain making itself known. A scream ripped itself from his lungs before he could stop it, a fist clamped suddenly to his mouth to stifle the noise and ground him back. But he could hear already that the stragglers that still hadn’t found them before had a pinpoint on them now.

_“The fuck was that? Michael? You OK? We heard a scream. We’re almost there. I swear if that was either of you, I’ll-”_

“Shit, I’m sorry. Sorry, I’ll fix it, I swear.”

Michael kept his eyes on the paths, ignoring the tears pricking behind his eyes at the sudden influx of pain. He felt more than saw the small flickering pulse of doubt from Ray, one that became painfully aware that he had no idea what he was doing and was running on empty promises of everything being ok. “Ray, remember what we said? You’re the one that can get us both out of this mess.” He tried to lift one hand to tell the other’s that they were ok but he couldn’t seem to loosen the grip on either his side or the gun held aloft. “Cavalry’s on the way. Just can’t tell them where we are right now.”

Ray looked up as three more entities came through the path dead ahead of them. “Yeah, no ifs, no buts, no doubts. Just get on and do it. You scream like that again though and I’m going to have to muzzle you, Mogar.”

“Ouch, but fine, I’ll keep that in mind.”

~~~~

“How close do you think Michael and Ray are to the entrance?” Jack held the portal open for the others, feeling an urgency he hadn’t before now that they were here.

“I don’t know but if he followed my advice he followed the left wall rule.” Ryan ducked into the portal. “Otherwise we’re screwed finding them in this maze. I can’t believe the shadow thought up something so quickly against my idea. That or it just can’t go from one dream to another. Sorry guys.”

“Ryan, we’d still be walking here if you hadn’t thought it up.” Jack rolled his eyes. “But let’s get going before Michael starts shouting about how long we’re taking.”

“Fuck, it’s dark as dicks in here. Well at least we’re all portable fucking flashlights right now.” Geoff grumbled, stumbling ahead in the darkness. They jumped as a light appeared for a moment above the walls of the labyrinth. The light died slowly to a soft glow, illuminating the area for a few seconds more before it slipped back into the pitch black. He turned to the others, trying not to shudder at the pair behind him, the lights in their chests illuminating their chins like a flashlight does, leaving their features in darkness. “What was that?”

“Who knows but if I could judge it I’d say it came from the middle of the maze.” Ryan started walking forward again first, hand flat against the wall before jumping back as the wall grated and moved under his fist, another opening becoming available. “ _Fuck_.”

“What?”

“The labyrinth is trying to change itself before we get there. Something’s happened and the shadow doesn’t want us helping.” Jack ran forward, ignoring the moving wall, the others keeping pace behind him. “Any new passages opening, we ignore. Otherwise we’ll run round in circles.”

“Right.” Geoff nodded, keeping an eye on either side of them as snarls echoed through the maze, loud and reverberating until he wasn’t sure if it was just one thing or a pack of them after them. A few gun shots sounded every so often, spurring them on further. Whatever ever was in the maze with them had found a target, though how long they’d be able to keep safe without them, he didn’t know. It didn’t help his panic when the growling continued without gun shots accompanying them.

“How much further?” Jack grit out, ignoring the snappish responses he got from the other two. None of them knew, but the pressing darkness and the ringing sounds were making them all tense and agitated, the hairs on the back of his neck still stood up from a particularly loud and satisfied howl they’d heard earlier. What was worse were his thoughts of what had happened to Ray before any of them got here – there was little questioning what this place could do to you.

“I don’t know. We can’t be too far though, right? I mean-” Ryan shouted suddenly, slipping forward as he was the first to step into the next room. He skidded, trying to grab hold of one of the others and missing, falling over into a sticky wet substance. “What the hell did I just fall in?” He asked hesitantly, sitting up slowly as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer, hands on either side pulling him up to a standing position quickly and silently. “Guys?” He looked around before any questions died in his throat, especially as a light flickered on and off above them. “Is this-?”

“Ray’s torture room.” Jack tightened his grip on the shield with one hand, the other rubbing across his beard, trying not to look too closely at the bodies around them, a striking similarity to his own dream stopping him. “Jesus, I’m not surprised he broke.”

“Fuck it, I’m going to rip that shadow apart when I find him.” Geoff snapped, looking around briefly. “So if this is where they were, where do you think they ran on to?” A movement ahead of them had him grabbing Jack’s shirt before he could move forward or reply, a sharp row of teeth glinting out of the darkness.

“Huh. I’m going to guess they don’t want us going that way.” Ryan grinned viciously back at the creature as it stepped towards them, others behind it. “How about we carve a path through them?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Geoff grinned, taking up a stance beside him, not mentioning anything when Jack stayed behind them.

A bloodcurdling scream ripped through the air, the stifled sound afterwards just as nauseating to the three of them as the scream had been in the first place. They froze in place, the creatures doing the same though in confusion. One tilted its head back, sniffing at the air before a gleeful sound erupted from it.

“That can’t have been them, right?” The axe in Ryan’s hand shook slightly so he tightened the grip on it in the hopes it would stop but the images running through his head were not pretty ones. The scream had most definitely been human, but was it all a trick?

“The fuck was that? Michael? You OK? We heard a scream. We’re almost there. I swear if that was either of you, I’ll-” Geoff all but screamed down the comm line, not even caring that the creatures had turned back to them. He couldn’t finish his sentence though, his imagination running wild as his voice hit a high peak, his heartbeat loud and thudding in his ears to the point where he wondered if he'd be able to hear a response anyway. It didn’t help that there was no reply though if they were in that much trouble it wasn’t much of a leap to think they didn’t have time to chat. He glared at the creatures ahead, wondering if these things could feel fear and whether he could instil it in to them before they fought, just for the satisfaction of hurting whatever had hurt one of their own. “One of your friends did that, didn’t they? Well guess what we’re going to do for one of ours.”

“Move.”

Ryan and Geoff looked over their shoulders simultaneously, unsure as to what was going on as Jack had his head down. “What?”

“I said, Move. _Now_. There’s no time for this.” The words were out quick and sharp leaving no room for discussion as Ryan and Geoff scuttled out of the way quickly. Jack bent down, shield in front of him. A light burst from him, causing the other two to cover their eyes and he was barrelling through the small pathway, knocking monsters out of the way left and right, a glimmering torch of determination for them to follow.

“Well, that was unexpected. What do you think brought that on?” Ryan blinked owlishly at the sudden change in character. “I mean, I assumed he was going to keep out of the fighting, not run headfirst into it. And I’m not saying he would be a coward, just after what’s happened…”

Geoff stared ahead for a moment at the carnage Jack left behind before his grin came back, wider than ever. “No, you just have to apply the right motivation. Jack’s just remembering what motivates him and I don’t think it’s anger.” He ran forward, slamming one the creature’s heads into the wall as he passed, the creatures still dazed by Jack’s run through them. “You better leave some for me, Jack!” He laughed as he heard Ryan run behind him with a whoop of some kind resonating as a head flew past them.

The laughter died in his throat as he caught up to Jack, the scene ahead almost making him lose his nerve. Michael half slumped, half leaning on the floor, blood covering his chest as well as flecks on his face as if the spray had spread far enough to hit him there instead of just being smeared. A small trail of blood wove across the floor from where he’d been injured and where he’d either dragged himself or been dragged along to where the blood now pooled beneath him. Ray was panicking beside him, though with a determined glint that said he was trying to hold it all together and get him through this, his mouth constantly moving, giving encouragement and witty remarks to the friend beside him. If the med kit beside him was anything to go by, he’d been doing a good job of fixing him up until they’d been ambushed, both him and Michael instead not aiming around them at the creatures slowly slinking in, like predators that knew their prey was cornered.

“Bring it on then. Or are you scared to take on Mogar and X-Ray even in this state?”

Geoff heaved a sigh of relief, if Michael was still shouting him mouth off, he couldn’t be in that bad of a state.

“What are you doing, you two? Get the fuck in here and help, no point in standing around.” Jack had turned to glance over his shoulder at them, still barging through the creatures ahead of them, a hammer in one hand to aid in his onslaught now that he wasn’t in a confined corridor. It took a few more steps for him to finally break through and get between the pair and the creatures before them. “Looks like you two could use a hand.”

Ray looked up with relief. “Jack! Good to see you. Think you can keep them off us while I get back to getting Michael on his feet?”

“Course, we’ve got the things surrounded for once instead of the other way around.” Jack looked over at the others, making their own treks through the small battlefield they’d created. “How you holding up, Michael?”

“Oh you know tippy top and all that. Though if I scream at all, blame it on my nurse here.” Michael bit on to his fist, gesturing at Ray to get on with it, eyes widening as the poultice made contact with the wound again. A muffled groan escaped as his vision blurred, the taste of blood sharp in his mouth as he bit down too hard on his hand, though the pain was satisfying, an odd distraction against Ray. He shook his head, pulling his hand out of his mouth with a struggle as he went back to keeping an eye on the surroundings, making sure none slipped past the other three while Ray was busy. He wasn’t having Ray get hurt because he had his back turned helping him.

“Michael, I don’t think that’s a good idea. How about you let me get you back on your feet before you try and shoot anything?” Ray tried to push down the gun Michael had managed to shakily lift back up again though there was a surprising amount of resistance and strength still in his arm.

“I can still take a few down if needed.” Michael huffed, glaring at him before turning back to the skirmish and aiming as much as he could at one of them.

“Jesus Christ, Michael!”

Michael winced. “Oops…”

Ryan blinked up from the floor, slightly winded and wondering just why Geoff had pushed him over and had tumbled down on top of him. He glanced to the side as one of the creatures he’d been fighting fell to the floor silently.

“What? I hit it, didn’t I?” Michael snapped waspishly, instantly on the defensive.

“Yeah, through Ryan if I hadn’t noticed.”

Ryan finally connected all the dots, pushing Geoff off of him as he took in Michael’s guilty yet defiant expression. “Ray, I think Mogar’s unfit for battle right now.”

Ray yanked the gun from Michael’s hand, rolling his eyes at the ‘I still hit it.’ grumble and glare he got in response. “Yeah, well, they’re almost done with fighting these things now so just sit back and enjoy the show.” He pushed him forward with a small warning to have a look at his back, grimacing at the state it was in now that he didn't have to hide his expression from Michael. “Nothing to worry about, just need to apply some more here-” He didn’t finish the sentence, hoping adding the poultice without warning, while Michael was distracted would be a good move. The half strangled noise he got made him think otherwise but at least the others were herding up the last shadow creatures and so didn’t get themselves hurt spinning around to check on Michael. “Easy mate, we’re all done now. That’s the last of it.”

Michael panted, closing his eyes against the pain. “You suck as a nurse by the way.” He smiled at the same time though, knowing that Ray wouldn’t take him seriously. The pain began to subside to a bearable ache and he shifted forward without Ray’s help, smiling with relief as the room didn’t spin around him. “Then again, feeling better.”

“Yeah, I’ll be waiting for a thank you when all this is finished.” Ray stood up, trying to act nonchalant instead of jumping up and down that that had actually worked and the hole in Michael’s chest was slowly shrinking. “You look like the terminator by the way.”

“Terminator Mogar over here.” Michael chuckled. “Unstoppable force.”

“I dunno. You look pretty beat to me.” Jack finally shuffled over, hand outstretched for Michael to take though when he did it turned into not only him helping him up but checking over the wound himself from every angle.

“Alright Jack, spinning me around is not making me feel better.” Michael laughed as Jack jumped back, apologetic. He took a few steps, glad he could take his own weight again, shaking out his shoulders as he did. “Honestly, I’m fine. Or I will be once this finished up.” He prodded at his chest, shivering when his fingers touched nothing. “Ok that is a feeling I never want to relive ever again.” He picked his sword back up, getting a clap on the shoulder from Geoff as he walked past. “Let’s get moving.”

“Seriously? You just had a hole in your chest two seconds ago, let’s at least give it time to finish healing.” Ryan objected, ignoring the rolled eyes he got in reply.

“We don’t have time to faff around waiting. All I need is some painkiller and it can finish healing while we’re on the go.”

Ray hummed thoughtfully before going to the med kit, finding what he needed amongst it instantly. He shuffled around, pretending to be picking up his gun while Ryan and Michael argued before slipping back in, giving Geoff and Jack a ‘keep quiet’ look when they glanced at him quizzically. Without warning, he plunged a syringe into Michael’s leg.

“Jesus! What the fuck?” Michael rounded on him, yanking it out.

“It’s just painkiller, like you asked for.” Ray shrugged.

“Well you could have told me instead of sticking it in me like that. Fuck.”

“…Stopped you thinking about the pain in your chest though, didn’t it?” Ray was suddenly very interested in his nails as Michael went silent, a few seconds of his mind whirring before it clicked and Geoff’s laugh was echoing around them at the look of annoyed acceptance on his face, a much more pleasant sound than the ones that had reverberated earlier and seemed to lighten the area around them. It wasn’t long before all of them were joining in, the laughter turning into a release of nervous energy that had built up inside them. With the exception of Michael that is, who crossed his arms and glared at them, trying his hardest not to even grin along. It didn’t take him long to crack, his laughter slightly hysterical as he took in what had just happened and what would have happened if it wasn’t all a dream.

“Fuck you. All of you.” Michael choked out, getting another round of laughter before he straightened up. “So who’s ready to go get the last lad back?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Terminator reference~ image of the T-1000 rose to mind while writing this so I couldn't resist~ Also thought it'd be nice to not be on such a mean cliffhanger this time and instead have a...well calm before the storm moment? XD Hope you enjoyed and thanks for the lovely comments I've been getting, you guys are the best!! Imp x


	12. A safe haven from the long stint in hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a while ;.; last days of work experience and so last days of dissertation research gathering which turned into compiling it all over the next few days...then family visited and kept asking that self-conscious question of 'what you doing? what's so important?' whenever I tried to slip away and write stuff *grumbles* so I feel like this hasn't come out as well as normal but I hope it's ok ♥ yet again word count is getting out of hand and this was only meant to be half a chapter til I got carried away ^^;
> 
> Also had my own mind to contend with ;.; my weird dreams/nightmares are back *sighs*...if I fuel them from this fic I'm grumping at you guys...though one such nightmare did give me an idea for the next chapter...
> 
> Love you all, imp x

 

 

“So what was with the wardrobe?”

Michael glances over at Geoff walking beside him at the back of the group, his mind trying to process what he was asking while still keeping an eye on the others. As much as he’d hate to admit it, he’s still a bit slower now because of the wound even if there’s nothing other than a scar, that’s rather impressive looking in his opinion, to show the wound was there at all. It was still harder however to come to terms with the fact that his earlier life threatening wound has been healed with just a bit of Ray’s willpower and yet even though he knew the slowness and constant dull ache were most likely psychosomatic, it didn’t stop them from persisting. So with that in mind, he had taken to the back of the group to not slow the others down while they scouted ahead and checked the way in case they came across any other creatures. Geoff had opted to stay with Michael however using ‘keeping an eye on the way they’d just come’ as an excuse though as much as Michael was sure that was one of the reasons, he had been sure there were others. One had been proven when he’d stumbled and a hand had instantly attached itself to his waist, confirming his suspicions that Geoff was watching his every move to check he was actually healing. He’d gotten a mouthful for doubting him with that one, a retort that only had Geoff raising his hands up in surrender and a clear facial expression that said even so he wasn’t apologising for being concerned. The second main reason for walking with him seemed to be making itself known now, Geoff wanted some questions answered but didn’t feel like the others needed to hear, or had some things to tell Michael too. The question had been nonchalant, like Geoff was pretending it wasn’t something he’d been puzzling over for too long but he could see right through him. “I can come up with a theory or two but nothing concrete, Ray didn’t talk about it. Why?”

“Just wondered…we saw the other room.” Geoff hesitated partway through, not knowing if Michael knew what he was talking about but the grim nod he got in return was answer enough. He checked forward again, making sure the others were far enough ahead not to overhear. “It just felt strange coming from all that carnage to, well, more carnage I guess but I kind of assumed that didn’t happen until you got there as most of the blood was yours.”

Michael heaved a sigh, his insides squirming. “I don’t think Ray will want me saying anything but that’s because he’s not taking into account that the shadow wanted to hurt him, not…feast on him as much.” He shuddered, hating that they were all just the dream equivalent of meat right now.

“Like, killing for hunting and killing for sport, right?” Geoff frowned as Michael confirmed his suspicions. “So while he was probably taking things slow with us, giving us little bits of hope here and there-”

“Ray was getting the full brunt of it without any kind of reprieve.” Michael gulped, his throat dry, before he continued. “He broke, Geoff. His light went out completely and it took me getting seriously injured for him to realise who he was again.”

Geoff nodded, taking it all in and trying not to dwell on what it must have been like trying to piece together the fragments that had been Ray but Michael had done it in the end. He tried to steer the conversation back to clearer waters. “So the wardrobe? Where does that fit in?”

“Ray was hiding in it.” Michael blurted it out matter-of-factly; taking in Geoff’s widening eyes. “So, maybe the shadow made it, or maybe he did. I’d guess the latter, maybe a childhood way of escaping.”

“A safe haven. It might even have been that he was actually hidden there from the shadow until you found him.”

Michael paused at that, thinking it over. “Possibly, I couldn’t feel him anywhere at all. That had to have been one of the scariest feelings ever, feeling out for your- whatever is it is we can feel and knowing that there’s one missing?” He tightened his fist which was bunched up around his middle still. “See _I_ had thought that the shadow had got bored when he broke Ray and just left him to stew.”

Geoff’s gaze hardened as he took in that information. “Perhaps a mixture of both, maybe the shadow could have found him if he put his mind to it but decided he had bigger things to deal with. Or better nightmares to concoct now he was done with punishment. Either way, we’re going to rip the bastard a new one for this long stint in hell he’s given us.”

“Of course.” Michael nodded, taking in Geoff’s look with a worried gulp before asking his next question. “So…I want to ask about Jack but at the same time I don’t want to know. Ryan made it sound bad to say the least.”

Geoff snorted. “Bad is understating the issue by a motherfucking mile.”

Michael glanced up at the bitter tone, startled by the sudden flash in lighting. “Whoa, ignore I ever asked. Can’t have you doing that on me, not now Geoff.”

“Doing what-?”

“Hey guys, we found the entrance.” Ray popped his head back around the last turn, eyebrow raised at the guilty jumps he got from the other two. “Hey, you weren’t talking about us, were you?”

Geoff laughed nervously. “What? Of course not. Michael was just trying to plan a rescue attempt without you lot.”

“You better be shitting us.” A voice called from further ahead, an angry Jack sounding ready to hit them with his new found hammer if they meant it.

“After I went through all that trouble to get us back together?” Michael snorted, shaking his head, though a small part of him now felt guilty for what he felt had to be said. _Soon but not now_ , he pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind.

“Let’s get out of this fuck fest.” Geoff clapped a hand to Michael’s back, whispering as he went past. “Let’s leave the story telling until we’re back in the pleasant world of boring but nice reality where there’s sweet sweet whiskey to wash it all down with.” With that he walked forward, not paying attention to any kind of response Michael had, instead choosing to zone in on Ray who had winced at his earlier statement, ruffling his hair as he went past and dragging him along with him. “Don’t worry kid, you ain’t ever allowed near my fuck fest nightmare and that’s an order as your boss and shit.”

“Yes sir.” Ray saluted with a laugh before pulling back to help Michael through the portal.

“I can do this, Ray.” Michael grumbled, annoyed and slightly offended at being treated as fragile.

“Yeah but I’d rather you kept your strength up for the main event. You’re our ace in the hole.”

“How’d you figure that one?” Michael gave him a sceptical look as he accepted the hand and let Ray pull him through.

“Well, without you I think we’d all still be stuck in our dreams, if not stranded outside of it like sitting ducks.” He gestured towards Ryan. “He said he got out of his nightmare but I wonder how far he would have got without prompting after that.”

“I’m sure you would have all done just fine, I got you into this mess after all. I’m just thinking I’ve got to correct that mistake.” He added the last sentence before Ray could protest.

“You say that, but…” Geoff rubbed his beard slowly. “Ryan might not have this because the shadow opened the portal for him in a sense, but when I got angry and decided I was getting out and beating the shadow senseless? It felt like something was watching me and that’s where I found the portal. And there you were on the other side.” He shrugs. “Maybe you finding the portal on your side meant I could find it on mine.”

Michael snorted; still in disbelief at them trying to make out he was some sort of hero. “Or you just figured it out? But fine whatever. We’re all here. Let’s just get on.” He closed his eyes, tilting his head to one side as if he was listening. “Gavin’s not that far and at the moment he’s still on his own. Though the shadow _is_ heading towards him as well.”

“Bugger.” Jack grumbled, arms crossed as the others turned to him. He gave a shrug. “Sorry, I just hoped it would come to intercept us. It feels like it will be more difficult with Gavin as a hostage still or within the shadows arm reach.”

“You kind of always hope that the princess is going to stay safe in the tower while you battle the boss, not become expendable.” Ray mutters, a concerned frown crossing his face at the thought of just what the shadow could be doing to Gavin as they speak, let alone what it’ll do when it feels threatened by them.

Michael nodded before taking a deep breath. “That’s why I had an idea.” He closed his eyes again, feeling around the landscape. _This is my dream world after all, so surely I could change it, right?_ A rumbling echoed around the group, the ground shaking enough for those around him to grab on to anything to keep standing upright.

“Was that you?” Jack’s shield was back on and raised once the ground stopped shaking, shuffling around in a rough circle slowly to check the area.

“And if so, what the fuck _did_ you just do?” Ryan had sat down during the episode, deciding it took less effort than keeping himself standing and he was less likely to hurt himself.

“I took a leaf out of the shadow’s book.” Michael rubbed the back of his head with a grin. “You guys said he changed the maze to keep you away from us, right? Well I hopefully just made him a maze of mountains and trees to get through before he could get to Gavin.”

“What did I say? _Ace in the fucking hole_.” Ray fist pumped, grinning madly. “Let’s go get Gavvers then.”

“What if the shadow thinks of a loop hole?” Geoff shuffles slightly at the looks he gets in response but holds their gaze. He can’t help but be slightly apprehensive of them getting ahead of themselves like last time even if the others want to charge ahead. Though a small voice in his head does remind him that he will still charge ahead regardless of knowing that they might fail; this is for Gavin after all.

Michael shrugged. “Maybe he will but given the fact that we all believe Ryan’s the only one that can travel long distances quickly or give the go ahead to, at least we’ve got some more time.” His grin slipped at the clap on the back he gets from Ryan in response, doubling over with a gasp as a shot of pain sparks at the contact. “OK, guessing moving mountains took a lot of effort because that really fucking hurt.”

“Shit, sorry.” Ryan winced, hand quickly retracting before he decides assisting is better and helps Michael stand upright again. “Are you sure about this? Surely you’ve done enough dragging us all back together and I mean that in both as a group and individually piecing us back together.”

“Fuck that, you did that on your own. You can’t fix something that’s completely broken, there’s got to be some input from both sides.” Michael panted, pulling himself back up with a grateful nod to Ryan and smiling, albeit painfully, at the worried and concerned faces all around. “I can walk it off, no biggy.” He sighs as the others give him suspicious nods, starting to walk forward again. “Though this does make my next idea suddenly more difficult for me to get you guys to agree too.”

“Why? What have you been planning without us?”

Michael tried not to sigh again or look at his feet, instead looking them each in the eye as he went around the circle. “I want you to go get Gavin and leave. The maze I created will hopefully divert the shadow towards me and once he realises I’m alone, I think he’ll come without any hesitation.” He took a small step back, waiting for the onslaught he knew was coming.

“Are you fucking serious?”

“You’re fucking with us, right?”

“You’re insane if you think that’s going to fly with us. I would have hoped being knocked about might have knocked some sense into you.”

“What is this? Some sacrificial bullshit?”

Michael tried not to laugh, knowing the punch he’d get for doing so but he couldn’t help thinking just how similar their faces looked to when he’d told them about this whole ordeal to begin with, well with the added angry and confused Geoff to go along with the others this time and Ray being a lot more vocal. “No this isn’t some sacrificial bullshit. I’m serious. This is my mess, you came here to help me get Gavin. I however, need to deal with the demons in my head.”

“A demon that has so far ripped a hole in your chest or did you forget that?” Ray whines, unable to think of what else to do.

“I’m well aware of that, thank you Ray.” Michael glares for a second before sighing. “Look, the thing is I want to go ballistic, I want to tear it to shreds but I can’t help thinking that I’m always going to be doubting how far I can go in case it also hurts you guys or doubting that the shadow might grab one of you like before. What if he makes one of you vanish again? Back into one of your nightmares? I can’t take that chance. I want you all gone before the fighting starts so that I can deal knowing that you’re all safe and sound and that no matter what happens you got Gavin out of here. _Which is the main priority, remember_?”

“You mean you won’t be able to be as reckless as you want to be with us around because we’d kill you for it.” Jack mutters darkly, arms crossed again as he glowers.

Michael shrugs. “Maybe, but I beat this thing before and at that time I had nothing to lose. So, why not recreate that? As long as you guys are here, I have something to lose. If it’s just me, it’s my willpower and control over my own mind against his.”

“And without him being able to feed on anything…”

“Exactly.” Michael turned to Ryan with a grin.

“Huh? No, I am not fucking agreeing with you.” Ryan snapped out of his musings with a hiss, eyes narrowed. “You’re not in the clear with me.”

Michael sighed; still happy he had another angle. “But you’re right. As long as Gavin is in my head the shadow will still be able to feed off of him and get stronger. He needs to be out of here before the fighting and he’s not going to go easily.”

“Urgh, I know you’re right on that point but I don’t want at agree or let you go alone still.” Geoff ran a hand through his hair, obviously still trying to come up with a counter argument.

“No…I think Michael’s right.”

There was a moment of reverberating silence as everyone, Michael included, turned to Jack in astonishment.

“Did you just agree with me? Not that I’m complaining, I just thought it would take longer to convince you.” Michael blinked, eyes wide as Jack muses some more.

“Well, it’s like you said, you’ve beaten the shadow once and you probably did that by losing all control. With us around that would be dangerous.” Jack shrugged, looking at all of them as he spoke. “But I was thinking. This shadow, feeds off of the positive emotions, right? So maybe it’s the same. Maybe when it loses power it starts to doubt itself, like it doesn’t have any emotion of its own so it’s taking ours to keep its control. So us leaving you to deal with it…”

“Makes it seem like we think it’s insignificant and only one of us is needed to beat it.” Michael concludes, his mouth twitching into a mocking grin. “Oh yes I’m going to have fun making that bastard doubt itself.”

“I guess it did say when we arrived that we’d made it stronger by thinking it was strong.” Ryan muttered darkly, seemingly convinced but unimpressed.

“And it has to be me because this is my mind.” Michael nodded determined, turning to the others. “Now, get going before the shadow changes its mind and goes after Gavin.” He jumps as he’s engulfed in a bear hug.

“You better win this fight, asshole. Or I’ll be back in here to kick your ass as well as his.” Geoff sniffs, pulling back without another look, as if doing so would make his resolve crumble.

The others ran after him, giving varying looks back at Michael before they laughed at his response.

“Don’t look back, idiots! Get a fucking move on, this isn’t a walk in the park. Run as fast as you can.”

“Fuck that, I want a vehicle to do the work for me.” Ryan shouted back before Michael was out of sight and earshot and the silence engulfed them as they realised they’d just left someone behind.

“What are we doing?” Geoff suddenly spoke, breaking the silence and glaring at Jack as he spoke what they were all thinking. “We can’t just leave Michael to deal with it, if we were going to do that, he should have just come on his own in the first place.”

“This gave him the rage he needed?” Jack couldn’t help the questioning tone at the end of his sentence, unable to really come up with a valid excuse, though he was still smiling.

“What are you smiling about? Nobody gets left behind, nobody ever splits up – well not indefinitely like this is. He’s not fighting, he’s _distracting_ while we leave.” Geoff grit his teeth as Jack ignored him, still continuing forward at the fast pace so that it was soon going to be a waste of time to turn back. “ _Will you stop smiling like that?_ ” The words came out as a hiss, anger bubbling over as he was ignored.

“He is right, Jack. I mean Michael’s injured and we’ve left him to fight everything on his own.” Ryan took a step away from Geoff as he gestured at him in agreement, not entirely sure whether he wanted to be in arms reach just in case.

“I know he’s right but I’m more surprised at you all for thinking I was agreeing with him.” Jack tilted his head back to look over his shoulder at them with his smile growing. “Come on, fuck that. But I do agree that we should get Gavin out of here before this all kicks off. That’s why I agreed, that and he’s more likely to go all out if he thinks we’re leaving. Calculated risk as to whether that’s good or bad.”

“So how are we going to do all this? You got a plan?”

Jack hummed thoughtfully. “I think I do, how does this sound…”

~~~~

Michael sat down in the clearing he was in, feeling the others walk further and further away from him with an odd mixture of regret and satisfied determination. He took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as he changed the terrain more, clearing the area ahead of his friends while building the forest up around the shadow and himself until there really was only one way for the shadow to come and that was directly to him, where he’d find himself in a secluded little cage made of trees. He grinned at the spike of rage he felt flare up, an echoing howl from the shadow as it realised it was pinned and being forced in one direction. Instead of incensing it more by pushing up more walls behind it, he just opened up his awareness more, made himself all the more visible. It felt slightly vulnerable, like he had put a neon sign above his head that said ‘look at me, right here, ready and waiting’. He licked his lips as his group of friends stopped as well as the shadow, obviously feeling the change, though the group with difficulty pressed forwards while the shadow’s sudden speed made it obvious it wanted to get this over and done with.

“What is this? A last stand?”

Michael looked up, having stayed seated seemingly bored when it fact it was to make sure he was healing up more. He hid every small twinge of emotion, burying it under the anger that raged instead to keep him steady. After all, it was disconcerting to see yourself leaning against a tree, arms crossed with that horrid mocking grin, all teeth and dangerous eyes. It wasn’t a shadow anymore, even with Michael back, more confident than ever. They might even get confused between them, a new excuse Michael had for the others when they woke up, if it wasn’t for the gaping hole in its chest. “No, I’m just keeping you busy.”

“What because you can’t beat me unless all of you are here?” The shadow glanced down at its hand, pushing off from the tree towards him. “We saw how that worked last time and you’re hardly going to keep me entertained for long.”

“No, no. I can beat you. Just making sure my friends are nowhere near at the same time.” Michael stood up slowly to greet him, watching with satisfaction as the shadow paused, a glimmer of confusion entering its expression (though Michael was finding it hard to ignore that it was still _his_ face) because it turned into a much darker expression. “That’s better. Can’t have you taking me lightly, can I?” He tried not to flinch as the shadow stood nose to nose with him, glaring at him.

“You really think you can beat me?”

Michael relaxed, the hissing words sounding less like him, making this easier. “Of course.”

The shadow snorted, grabbing his chin and lifting it up. “Well, let’s see if you can beat your own nightmares first.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still feel bad, this didn't go as planned, gonna write more now. (Though I feel like posting a picture of the 'things to do' notebook I have that has this story at 5 chapters to begin with then little scribbles of 'wow, this got long' and 'wheres all this coming from?!'
> 
> Want some good fics to read though if anyone has any reccommendations ♥


	13. Breaking point: Shattering obsidian is a reckless endeavour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every time~ Right this is the 'other half' of the last chapter XD as you can see...think this is the longest chapter so far *sighs* 
> 
> I will warn now...this is nightmare territory...there will be pain ahead.
> 
>  
> 
> Picture below is by http://bluestrawberryiii.tumblr.com/ ...isn't it awesome?! ^0^ Shadow Michael in full force and ready for the boss fight. Let's go~

  
  

 

Michael felt the world spin as he stared into what really should be his own eyes, which was disturbing in itself to think about, but instead seemed to be endless dark pools that suck him in and suddenly he’s somehow falling, pitching forward. He lands with a squelching noise that makes him grimace as he picks himself up off of the ground, flicking his arms and legs to try and rid them of the dark goo that seems to engulf the floor around him. Everything else is empty nothingness, there’s no walls to hedge him in like the maze or a ceiling pushing close to make him claustrophobic. Just a wide open space, nothing but the sludge ridden ground lit enough to show him just how much nothing there is around him.

_Michael._

He jumps, spinning but there’s nothing there. He can’t help the growl that echoes through him. It’s what the shadow wants; he’s playing right into his hand.

_Michael, where are you?_

The voice is insistent though and no matter how much he tries to fight it, he can’t help the pull it has. He’d come to rescue Gavin, so hearing him call him, it just feels like second nature to follow. He can feel his feet moving without his permission but he lets them take him towards the voice, deciding that getting the dream over and done with was the best possible outcome.

_My little Michael._

Michael stops in his tracks. That one was off. It was Gavin’s voice and Gavin’s words, yes, but something was just off. Like there was a tinge of threat in the sentence that would never be there if this was the real Gavin. “What happened, shadow? You get bad at your job? I thought this was your forte, making nightmares real and shit.”

_What are you talking about? This is real, I’m right here. Look up, you dope._

Michael glances back up, coming face to face with Gavin, lighting up the area around him with a soft but better glow. “Gavin.” The word came out in a rush, like he’d been knocked in the back of the head.

_You were just a bit too late that’s all…my boy Michael._

Michael couldn’t help shuddering, realising the Gavin in front of him hadn’t moved his lips at all, just smiling serenely at him. “What is this your latest game?” He glares at the thing in front of him, tilting its head like it’s confused. To all extents and purposes it _looks_ like Gavin. But it doesn’t feel like him, doesn’t sound like him. The right words at the right times and the right mannerisms but that doesn’t compare to the real thing when it gets down to it. Like it’s lost the spark that really is Gavin Free. He sneered at it, a hand on his hip as he gave it the once over. “Come on shadow. You think you can mess with me like this? So you don’t just take on my form but Gavin’s as well? Doesn’t mean I won’t still beat the shit out of you.”

“Oh no, that’s not it.” The shadow Gavin shakes his head, obviously amused. “See, us…shadows as you like to call us, we do start somewhere. Your one started off somewhere, in someone’s head before it found you, or maybe it was made inside your own at some point. But your shadow realised that well…breaking Gavin would unleash me.” It grinned sickeningly, giving a twirl. “What? Did you think he was the only one? Or that he just existed? Everything starts somewhere.”

“So, Gavin’s…”

“Broken. Completely. And I don’t mean like your other friend broken, I mean utterly unfixable, should be left to die kind of broken.” It grinned again at him, walking towards him, arms outstretched, inviting. “I could always keep you entertained instead you know. You weren’t broken by your shadow, maybe you’d even like what we do; it’s a rush I can tell you. Though, imagine _all_ your friends having dark versions of themselves…we’d run the show.” The shadow laughed, the chaos that would entail pleasing it to no end.

“Shut up. Fuck you. Not leaving Gavin behind. Ever.” Michael’s early thoughts of not playing into the shadow’s hand had gone by the wayside along with intelligent thoughts in general, his sentences coming out as shattered as his thought processes. “Now tell me where he is. Or get out of the fucking way and I’ll find him myself.”

“He’s right here.” The shadow blinked, shrugging and taking a step to the side. “He’s a bit preoccupied though and honestly I don’t know what you want with a shell. We’d be better suited, don’t you think?”

Michael’s breath hitched as he took in Gavin, his head down and eyes unseeing and the way he was sinking slowly into the sludge, the goo up to his waistline already. He glanced down at himself, moving with a jolt as he realised that the whole time he’d been stationary he’d been sinking, his feet completely obscured in the ground. He shook his legs, pulling them up and out quickly and with less effort than he expected which had him frowning at his friend still sinking. Why wasn’t he pulling himself out? His eyes widened in shock. _He doesn’t care. He’s too far gone._ “Gavin, you better pay attention to me and keep going or I’m seriously going to kick your ass back to reality if that’s the only way to get it there.”

Gavin glanced up, eyes glassy and unfocussed. “Mi-Michael?” He blinked a few times, squinting as if he had trouble believing his own eyes.

“What did I tell you? You’re too late, he’s done for.” The shadow sighed in contempt, shaking its head as it did so. A sickening wet ‘thump’ stopped this movement. Its eyes grew wide as it tried to look down at whatever was now firmly embedded in its neck, its fingers scrabbling for purchase as it strained to pull it out.

“I told you to shut up.” Michael’s words came out hushed and dark, not even looking over as he yanked the sword back out of the shadows neck, not seeing that the black goo that seeped out and onto his sword was the same sludge that covered everything else here, and ignoring the gurgles and screams he stepped forwards to what he thought was the real Gavin. “See? No more monsters, Gavin. Just you and me.” He heard the shadow fall behind him twice, assuming that it had first fallen to its knees before falling completely though he didn’t check, too busy keeping an eye on Gavin.

“Michael.” The word came out relieved, a small spark coming back to Gavin’s eyes before he tried to reach out and only one arm came free. He glanced down; tugging at the other one but nothing he did could move it. He was still sinking. “Michael!” He stopped fighting to pull himself out, reaching out just a hand towards him in panic as the sludge travelled further up his chest.

Michael ran. That’s all he could do. Run towards his friend and reach for the hand that was still above ground, slipping and sliding as he went. “It’s alright, buddy. I’ve got you.” He skidded to a halt, still barely standing as he grabbed the hand, yanking as much as he could without hurting his friend. There was a moment of resistance and then a release as Michael gained some ground, seeing his friend’s chest reappear more above the sludge. Then something yanked _back_ pulling Gavin completely under and Michael was yet again pitched forward, falling into the hole along with the hand he held...

Michael sat up with a start, panting. The duvet on top of him fell off his shoulders to around his hips, making him jump for a second as it tangled around him. His eyes unaccustomed to the darkness took a moment of flitting around to adjust. He stayed tense, his muscles frozen as he waited for a monster or anything for that matter to move. What felt like hours went by in what was really only a matter of seconds as he calmed down, realising he wasn’t on the Ramsey’s sofa where he thought he should be if he woke up but in his own bed, his own flat. Everything was where it should be, no glaringly obvious mistakes that would make him know this was all in his head. As far as he could tell he was actually awake. He sat back a bit, his head hitting the wall, still thinking of everything that had happened. That couldn’t have all been a dream, right? Well, he knew most of it was a dream but the amount of detail that had gone into everything, the amount of days it had covered, not just one ultimate event and it had fit together seamlessly. He gave a shuddering breath, closing his eyes. If it had all been a nightmare at least everyone was safe and sound. A small part of his mind was disconcerted however by the fact that he’d just willing stabbed his friend in the throat because ‘it wasn’t really him’. Did people do that in their dreams? Kill their friends? If not, what did that say about him?

A shuffling noise brought him back to earth with a heart throbbing bump. Dream or not, somethingwas in his home with him. He waited again, wondering if his overactive imagination was getting the better of him after the ordeal of his nightmare but the sound came again, along with movement next to him. _Something was in his bed with him._ He gulped, licking his lips as he glanced over, wondering how he could have missed that. The back of a familiar head greeted him, causing him to frown even if his heart skipped a beat in relief. “Gavin? The hell are you doing in my be-” The words caught in his throat, his hand outstretched to shake the other man when he saw the dark substance coating his fingers. “What the-” He pulled back, pressing his fingers together, it was sticky and slightly wet and sending all kind of warning bells off in his head as his imagination painted it red even though the gloom made it impossible to pick out colours. He went back to the task at hand, apprehensively turning Gavin over and finding him wide eyed and breathing shallowly, his chest and surrounding blankets saturated in the same sticky substance, his mouth moving but only a faint hiss making its way out of his throat. There were flecks of blood on his face, like he’d tried to fend off whatever had happened but most of the blood was concentrated below the neck, a thick gaping tear lining it. “Holy shit.” A litany of ‘What do I do? What do I do?’ was running circles in Michael’s head before he realised that Gavin was reaching out for him to come closer, his eyes frantic and pleading, because he couldn’t speak loudly enough to grab his attention and obviously needed to say something and he leant forward, wanting to know what was so important in that one moment.

“ _Why?_ ”

Michael shot back, pushing himself off the bed with a clatter at that simple and yet for some reason agonizing response. He frowned, glancing down to see what he’d pulled down with him and saw a knife glinting in the small light from outside covered in blood and everything came to a sudden clarity. “I did this.” He stuttered out, the dream replaying in his head, he’d stabbed Gavin without a thought because it hadn’t been him. What if it had been him? What if he got it wrong? He had got it wrong. He shook as a hand stretched out to him, beckoning him, a cruel parody of the ‘real’ Gavin in his dream, asking for help but he could still see his lips moving, still asking him why he’d done it even if he had no voice left to say it with.

_Even a dream version of you, I don’t think I would have left. Probably why I played so easily into the shadow’s hand._

Michael glanced around at the voice before realising it was a memory, not something tangible. Ray had said it to him, in his dream. He stood up straight, no matter how real this felt, it was just another tactic, something to break him with. He had to believe that, this was all fake, another way to keep him from fighting the shadow. No matter how real it all seemed, he gulped, glancing back over again before turning away. The shadow was just feeding off of his doubts about this being all his fault, feeding off of every little thought he had about what was going on, about what could happen, turning his friend against him and then using his fighting back to its advantage. Now he just had to make the next move, the crucial but horrible move. He had to do what Ray couldn’t and leave the dream version behind, otherwise he’d find himself broken and useless under the bed or something until the others found him and that was not the point of this exercise. The point was to _win_.

_I’m not really thinking or doubting, I’m just doing what I have to. There’s no choice in the matter._

“Right, just move.” Michael blanked out his mind, ignoring the choking sounds behind him, the pangs of doubt, the shaking of his hands where he just wants to reach out and hold Gavin and try to take the pain away. “When I next see you, Gavin, I swear I’m never going to complain about how loud you are ever again. Or well, I might if it’s what you want to hear but you can piss me off as much you want and I ain’t going to ever get truly mad at you because it’ll just be good to have you back.” He talks to himself the whole time he’s walking away, not letting himself think about anything other than the good things he’s going to do once this ordeal is over, once they’re all out of harm’s way. He’s running by this point, not thinking about where’s he’s going, just going, feeling the tugs that tell him he’s going the right way and adjusting accordingly until he finds an open portal and bursts through it, back into the clearing he’d made earlier.

“You left him to die, that was a bit cruel, wasn’t it?”

Michael gasps for breath, watching the shadow him sitting with a mildly impressed look on his face. “Yeah well, weeping over a fake Gavin isn’t going to help me get the real one back.” He inwardly curses at the tremor in his voice, though at the same time he’s glad that nothing so far has desensitized him enough that seeing his best friend dying doesn’t affect him at all.

“Oh don’t give me that. It felt real, I bet. I made it as realistic as I could. How did you feel knowing you’d killed him? That you’d done it in your sleep and hurt him in ‘real life’ all at the same time.” The shadow stood up, dusting itself off with a small smile. “Though you leaving him to it like that…well let’s just say you could make a good protégé if you were up for it.”

“Fuck. You.” Michael spat, his anger reigniting. It would pay for that. Pay for making him feel like Gavin wasn’t saveable. He launched the crowbar into its face without thinking, glad that Ray’s words paid off again when a satisfying crunch had the shadow reeling backwards, away from him.

“Guess not. Why didn’t the dream break you then? What wasn’t right?” The shadow hissed, holding its face in its hands.

“Well for one, why the fuck would Gavin be in my bed?” Michael stepped forward, circling as the shadow stepped back away from him. He tried not to concentrate, or at least appear not to be as he searched for his friends, satisfied that he’d at least distracted the shadow long enough when he felt them nearing the portal out of there, Gavin in tow.

“Because I’ve slipped into your subconscious mind once or twice. Thought I’d give you something nice for a change.”

Michael faltered, his mind firmly back in the clearing as he took in the shadow, not sensing a lie at all. “Something nice? Gavin bleeding to death in my bed constituted something _nice_ in your books?”

“Well, I’ve put two and two together before you it seems.” The shadow hummed, smiling coyly. “But, well, you always did have ulterior motives for wanting the little glowing boy on our side of the barrier, now didn’t you? Little Michael’s first crush that’s always stayed with him.” The shadows voice took a higher pitch, smiling at him like he was a cute little boy. “Sweet, isn’t it? But what does that mean now you know it’s your best friend who you’ve dreamt about all these years?”

Michael gulped, connecting the dots with what he found to be an unnerving amount of acceptable as if he had already known that fact but had so far denied it so much that he’d almost come to believe that just by not thinking about it, it would all go away. A spasm of horror also made itself aware as it clicked just what the shadow Gavin had meant by ‘keeping him entertained’, like it could give him everything he hadn’t known he’d wanted. A heavy feeling of emptiness suddenly overtook these new thoughts as one by one a consciousness slipped away from him, the foreign entities that had once entered now leaving Michael’s dream world feeling oddly abandoned when they should have never been there to begin with. The grim satisfaction made him turn to the still smiling shadow. “Can you feel that? That’s them leaving.” He gave a victorious smirk, the new but old emotions pushed aside as the shadow stumbled forward, head flicking around, eyes narrowing at the sudden emptiness. _Don’t think, that’s what it wants. Just do._ It was just them now, he shouldn’t feel lonely after he’d told them to leave but he couldn’t stop the thoughts building up, like a chunk of him was now suddenly missing - ‘ _This is it. This is your moment. Do or die.’._

The shadow turned to him disdainfully; trying it’s hardest not to show the rage that was obviously boiling below the surface. “You took away my meals. They were my ticket out of your head, you know? I would have finally left you alone. My only choice now is to force my way out.” It grinned, teeth sharp and growing, making Michael shudder as they protruded from the mirror of his own face, still cracked and distorted by the earlier hit. “That’s going to be painful, you know. For you that is.”

“Yeah, well, that ain’t going to happen.” Michael pointed at it with his sword. “You, fucker, are not getting out of here. It’s either death or locked up tight because there is no way in hell you are getting out of my head to torment another person. You’ve haunted me and Gavin for far too long and the thought of you doing that to someone else? Or making my friends live through any of those nightmares again? Well, let’s just say the death sentence is looking much more appealing.”

“Aww, see? Still worried about your little Gavin even though he’s not here.” The shadow hummed thoughtfully, twisting his words out of context and shaking its head like Michael didn’t understand his current predicament. “Not that that honestly matters now. After all, you know what happens when you die in your sleep, right? All those horror stories you hear about never waking up again.” The shadow grinned. “Well, you can guess how that works, yes? This is your imagination – everything you know and/or think about. What do you think would happen if I started deleting fragments of it? I could make you watch as everything goes black, until there’s nothing but a gaping void where your memories and thoughts used to be. No more friends, no more crushes, no more things to care about. Just a husk that was once Michael Jones.”

“Bull. If I’m going down, you’re coming with me. I don’t believe for one second that if I die and my little world here crumbles-” Michael gestures around for emphasis. “-you won’t kill yourself at the same time. That’s like being at the centre of an explosion and expecting to not be one of the casualties. That and-” He grins, his teeth gritting together into more of a vicious grimace than a grin as he shrugs. “I never understood how anyone would know if people who had died in their sleep had dreamt beforehand.”

“Because I exist.” The shadow spread it’s arms wide as if asking for praise. “I live to tell the tale.”

“Yes. And I’m likely to believe the monster trying to scare me to death isn’t ever going to lie to me, because…?” The sarcasm was practically dripping from his voice.

The shadow hummed thoughtfully, ignoring Michael’s comment as if he’d never interrupted the earlier trail of thought. “Or better yet I could beat you down to size, keep you locked up inside your own head while I take over it even in your waking moments. Maybe I’d pretend for a while that you’d beaten the shadow, give them that false hope before making all those horrible nightmares a living reality and you’ll have to watch every last second. Watch as every one of your friends takes their last breaths, killed by your own hands. You’ll become my biggest feast ever.” The shadow licked its lips, jumping forward quickly to wrap a hand around Michael’s neck before he could stop it, slowly choking him. “How does that sound? For that dream you just lived to suddenly be a reality? To _really_ kill your best friend like that and then for me to let you have control again when there’s nothing you can do to save him.”

“Like hell, you’re not laying a hand on any of them again.” Michael kicked and lashed out, the crowbar dropping from one hand as he clawed at his neck, the hilt of the sword in his other being slammed repeatedly into the shadows face which cracked and splintered like glass but still didn’t stop the choke hold on him. “This is my mind, there is no way you are controlling it!” Michael ground out, landing another hit on the shadow that actually made it grunt in pain.

“Maybe I’ll have some fun first before killing him.” The shadow hissed out through gritted teeth, a forked tongue licking its lips at it smirked at him in hunger, looking less and less like him with every hit it took. “Maybe I’ll give him false hope like I said, make him think you won. I’ll be his hero, his _little Michael_. Who knows? Maybe he’ll reciprocate the feelings once I tell him that the boy in my dreams was always the boy of my dreams.” The shadow chuckled, giving Michael’s neck another squeeze. “Would you like that? To watch as I convince Gavin that everything is now slotting into place for the perfect happy ending, that I’ll do anything to keep him safe and happy and never let anything hurt him again…” The shadow leant in close to Michael’s ear, still chuckling. “…before I break every bone in his body and watch him bleed out until he asks with his dying breath why you would do that to him?”

_Why?_

Michael roars, there’s no other word for the sound of anger and pain and utter determination to make sure that that scarring scene never becomes a reality. He doesn’t register the look of shock on the shadows face, doesn’t register the screams as he puts both hands on the swords hilt and rams it down with all the strength he can muster on to the shadows wrist and shatters it into obsidian shards. He wheezes as he stumbles backwards, falling into an undignified heap while the shadow screams and shakes, clinging to the stump that was once a hand, bringing it close to its chest as if that could ease the pain. He takes an unsteady step, pulling himself up and with a sickening pleasure watches a fleeting look of fear pass over the shadows face. “You will _never_ hurt Gavin again or anyone else for that matter. But especially not him. You’re right, maybe once this all settles down I’ll finally let myself think about those kinds of things. Maybe even tell him how all of this must have started. That you couldn’t have gotten to him if I hadn’t been so determined to get to him myself. But I won’t, not until you are completely eradicated.”

“Like you’ll get that chance.” The shadows expression turns dark, serious as it pulls at the stump of a hand, making it sharper and jagged. “I don’t know what will be more satisfying. This moment; tearing through you for that, or keeping you on the brink to watch the horrors that will unfold.”

Michael growled, a small part of his brain laughing that he was becoming animalistic the angrier he got. He gripped his sword, frowning when the shadow bent down to grab some of the shards that had splintered off its hand. “What? It you’re hoping to put it back together, I don’t think that will wo- _oh_.” The throw was not what he’d expected, the pointed shard entering his chest precisely where the last wound had been. Obviously he’d been wrong about the shadow not knowing exactly what was happening to them when it wasn’t nearby, maybe it had known exactly where Ray had been the whole time and had just been laughing, satisfied with his broken hidden shell until Michael had come along to change that. He stumbled, slipping back down to his knees as he grasped the shard, pulling it out with gritted teeth. The shadow was on him when he next looked up, caressing his cheek almost lovingly which instantly made him nauseous.

“Goodbye Michael, it’s been…eventful.” The shadow raised its arm giving Michael one more appraising look as he stared up at him defiantly, no pleading, no tears just molten rage and a tinge of guilt at what would happen after all this.

 _I hope this kills you too, bastard._ Michael waited for the blow, stared straight into the shadows eyes as he waited for it to come, waited for the darkness and believing as hard as he could that this would take them both down.

Which is why he had the perfect view when the arrow hit and went straight through the shadows skull, more shards of obsidian splintering off from both sides of the stunned expression.

“Mark Nuuuuuuuut~!’

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So~ I think I put in the last chapter that my dreams might come in handy and they did for this chapter ^^; no I did not kill one of my friends though one of them /has/ been trying to kill me in one of my dreams before ;.;  
> No, I just had a dream (can't remember what it was but it was apparently bad from my reaction), 'woke up' from it and relaxed with my eyes still closed, telling myself I was in my own bed and everything was fine and all. Then I turned over and opened my eyes and something was staring back at me less than a foot away on my bed. Let's just say the transition from dream to suddenly being over on the other side of my room at the light switch is still something I don't remember...and may have possibly woke people up while I did it though I don't remember making any noise either. *coughs* yeah, my head hates me and likes to lull me into false senses of security *shrugs* that's the first one in a long time to actually feel like a nightmare though. If I have any other crazy ones (dreams are a regular thing just the vivid...ness fluctuates) while still writing this I'll put them in the notes...unless people don't want to know and then I'll hush XD
> 
> Oh god look at this! I need to stop. Sorry ♥ Imp x


	14. Going for Gold - Let's get Free

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! The boss fight. because if the boss fight is too early on in a game, you know full well there's another fight waiting just around the corner.  
> *grins* that and I'm a tease ;p 
> 
> Anywho *coughs* MARK NUUUUUUTT~

 

 

The sudden flare of Michael’s consciousness made the group pause and turn, a shiver of doubt passing through them as they waited for something else to happen, like they’d just witnessed the calm before the storm. If the shadow’s sudden quickening pace had anything to do with it then the storm was on its way.

“Are you sure we should leave him while he’s shining a beacon to the shadow?”

“What you mean that ‘I’m here, come kill me’ beacon? Yeah I think we should ignore it entirely.” Ryan rolled his eyes at Ray before turning back the way they’d come.

“Yes that’s exactly what we’re going to do.” Jack grabbed him, pulling him towards Gavin in the opposite direction. “He’s got a plan, this is part of it.”

“Yeah probably getting killed is part of his plan too so just because he has a plan doesn’t make it a smart one.” Geoff stood, arms crossed as he glared at him.

Jack sighed. “Look, Michael can’t fight while Gavin’s here. He’s distracting the shadow for the very purpose that we can get him out of here and if you follow my plan then we’ll be able to do that _and_ come back to help Michael without him even knowing.”

“You still haven’t told us the finer points of that plan.” Ray looked back one more time in worry before giving up and following Jack, hoping the others would too.

“Just trust me. That’s the point, right? You trusted Ryan with the teleport thingy, now you have to trust me with this one.” Jack tried not to show his relief as Ryan gave in and followed him as well, leaving Geoff to finally cave and run up to join them, not in the best of moods and instantly bringing down the rest of them with his next comment.

“Course I trust you. I just don’t trust Michael’s judgement on his own emotions. I mean, how would you feel if we all left you here even if you told us it was the best idea?”

~~~~

“Well, we did order a castle.” Ryan blinked up at the towering monstrosity ahead of them where Gavin’s faint little flicker was signalling from. Dark stone and crumbling mortar gave the distinct impression that it had been abandoned years ago but they weren’t going to be fooled; they just hoped it didn’t come crashing around their ears before they found him.

“We did. Should we hope that Gavin stays in one place? Because I won’t be impressed if the whole time we’re looking for him, he’s flitting around looking for us like the pain that he is.” Geoff glares at the door, kicking it in with only a moment’s hesitation. _The shadow’s either going to know we’re here or he’s not without input from us. Might as well make a fucking entrance._

“As long as him staying put doesn’t mean being in the tallest tower because I don’t think the stairs will take our weight and I can only imagine they get worse the higher up we go.” Ryan gave a sceptical look to the ‘grand’ wooden staircase full of helpful pitfalls and missing stair rungs.

“Vav!” Ray grinned at the jumps he got from the other three, only watching them peripherally as he leaned up the stairs, one hand cupping his mouth. “We’re here, so make your way down if you’re up high, we’re in the entrance hall.” He looked over at the others. “We’ll check floor by floor until we find him and hopefully there’s only one set of stairs.” He pointed out the doors on either side. “No corridors so I bet these are all nightmare rooms. First one to find Gavin wins?”

The next few floors came back with mostly disgruntled noises when no Gavin turns up, interspersed with disgusted and painful expressions at what was in each room. Though most of the time it wasn’t discussed, each room closed and barred quickly before anyone else could take a look into it, the viewer white and nauseous before the rage took hold again.

A shocked and almost hysterical moment ensued due to carnage they’d seen so far was revealed on the third floor though when Jack opened one door and blurted out without a thought what he’d found. “Holy shit, there’s a room full of wet bread.”

“You’re shitting me, right?” Geoff popped his head around the door before a cackle escaped him. “Holy fuck, I didn’t even think this would crop up what with everything else.”

“It’s not funny, you knob.”

The four froze, glancing up the stairs to see a now panicked Gavin standing at the top of the next set of stairs.

“Shoot, you weren’t meant to hear that.” Gavin gulped, a small ironic laugh escaping him before he darted away from them, back on to the fourth floor without glancing back.

“Gavin? Gavin, it’s us.” Geoff took the stairs two at a time, eye shifting round the floor but Gavin had disappeared, slipping into one of the rooms.

“It’s always you!”

Ryan pointed to one door, open just a smidgeon as if Gavin hadn’t really thought through this plan.

“Come on bud. We won’t hurt you.” Ray tried for reassuring but he knew it came out badly, after all they’d seen what must have happened before.

“You might, you’ve done it before. Or you’re here to rescue me and then you’ll all die painfully just when I start to think everything’s ok.” Gavin’s voice was muffled and painful.

Geoff winced, pushing the door open slowly and taking in with a heart wrenching pang that Gavin wasn’t even trying to run anymore, or attack for that matter. He’d just curled up into a ball, his arms around his knees and his head hidden behind them. “We’re here for you, Gav. To make sure you’re ok.” He didn’t know what else to say, how else to make him believe him so he turned to the others. Touching him seemed the worst option at that moment and he wasn’t the best at comforting.

“All those other times, were we all here?” Jack took a step forward, not really knowing why it seemed like a good starting point but it did. Maybe it was because he’d noticed a severe increase in the amount of one of their friends being dead and tortured in the rooms of the castle.

“Most of the time, sometimes it was just Michael.” Gavin still spoke into his knees, not looking up once.

“Well, Michael’s not here this time, Gavin.” Jack winced as Gavin looked up sharply, glaring at them but he wasn’t wincing at that really. He was wincing at the fact that although Gavin was trying his hardest not to get his hopes up, the little light in his chest was blossoming with every second. He understood now why the shadow was able to hurt him so much, he just didn’t break down, he bounced back and for once that didn’t seem to be a good thing like it would be in their normal real lives. In this world, it meant he was a constant regenerating power source.

“Then that gives me even less reason to trust you. My boy Michael wouldn’t leave me here; he wouldn’t leave any of us here.” Gavin stared at them, eyes narrowed as he waited for the comeback, ignoring the guilty feeling from the way he was speaking to his friends; they weren’t his friends, just illusions sent by the shadow and he wouldn’t be fooled again, no matter how much his heart raced and tried to tell him it was all real, he wasn’t going to buy it.

“Michael’s not here because he’s saving all of us right now.” Jack took another step closer, sitting in front of Gavin as if to show him he was harmless, his shield and hammer left beside the door in an attempt to reassure. “He’s keeping the shadow busy while we’re here. He wants all of us to get to safety while he’s keeping it busy. We- We can’t waste that opportunity he’s given us.”

“Michael’s sacrificing…?” He couldn’t say it, not even if he realised that that was something Michael would do. After all, it was his nightmare that had caused all off this, he’d blame himself for getting them hurt when he’d done nothing wrong other than dream.

“Are you shitting me? The shadow’s fighting Mogar. I know who I’m betting on.” Ray held out a hand for Gavin to take hesitantly, almost worried how fragile he’d become. “But the longer we’re here the more of a liability we are. The shadow feeds on doubt, so we have to believe Michael can do this and get the fuck out of here.”

Gavin took a deep breath, staring up at them all before his shoulders drooped and he took Ray’s hand. “The fuck have I got to lose? Even if you’re illusions at least the nightmare’s not consistent. Otherwise it’d just get boring.”

Geoff cuffed him around the head softly, trying not to be overly emotional, passing it off as a joke was just so much easier to deal with. “Stop it, you’re upsetting me. You better be an annoying prick once we get out of here because I’m not dealing with a moppy Gavin forever. That’d just hurt.”

“Aww, you care, Geoff.” Gavin laughed out with a choke, still unsure of everything but wanting to take a chance that this was true. _Just once. Once more. Let this time be the time that I’m right, otherwise I’m done. I can’t keep hoping that it’s all going to be ok._

“Course I do, you asshole. If I didn’t I wouldn’t have entered this fuck fest to begin with.”

~~~~

 “So, where exactly are we going?” Gavin skipped ahead as they walked, enjoying the feel of freedom though every noise outside of their group had him scuttling back quickly, gripping on to whoever was nearest. He couldn’t help but feel positive, after all he had no idea where he was going, he didn’t feel all that safe, just vigilant, so it didn’t feel like he was being lulled into a false sense of security which was a big contrast to all of his other nightmares. The only other time it had been different to that was when he’d felt his friends presence for the first time, like a sudden real presence and he’d taken a gamble and ran towards it, finding he’d escaped the prison he’d been walled in without it having needed much thought. Then again the shadow had caught up to him fairly quickly so he didn’t hold out much hope that they’d all actually survive this but at least it was one last adventure before they went.

“Not telling. You and Michael are linked to the shadow, what either of you know, it might know.” Ryan relayed for Jack who was still walking purposefully ahead. “That’s what we decided anyway, so you’ll just have to trust us.”

Gavin pouted. “That’s a bit hard given the circumstances.”

“Yeah well, we’re almost there anyway.” Jack muttered back before pulling a tree branch out of the way for the others, the clearing they’d first dropped into in sight on the other side.

“Fucking finally, now we can get Gavin out of here and go back to help Michael.” Geoff sighed with relief, pushing Gavin forwards.

“What? What do you mean?” Gavin came to a complete stop. “I thought we were all leaving? Why just me? And why would you tell me before I go through?”

“Because Michael gave us the job of getting you out of here. And as long as he thinks we’ve all gone then we can go help him out. We just didn’t want the shadow stopping us before we got you away from here.” Geoff patted him on the shoulder, still pushing forward. “Don’t make me pick you up Gavin, you know I will.”

“As long as he thinks we’ve all gone, I can come too.” Gavin glared, crossing his arms and still refusing to budge. He waited as the others looked at each other, a silent argument obviously raging. “What? Just tell me.”

“You don’t trust us.” Ryan said slowly, trying to get it across without offending him. “If you come into the fight and don’t trust us or doubt we’re going to win then we’re as good as done for. That’s how the shadow beats us, by feeding off the thought process that says we’re going to lose, that there’s nothing we can do.”

“We need to go into this fight all guns blazing and take the shadow by surprise; shock it and Michael enough to get into the fight and not get hit in the crossfire because I think that’s what Michael’s afraid of.” Geoff walked in front of Gavin, his hands on either of his shoulders, so that he could stare him straight in the eye and make sure he understood just what they were doing and why. “We’re going, we didn’t want to force you into coming because then you’d think it was another nightmare that you couldn’t win. No offense, bud, but you’ve been in here longer than us and I know how much just our short stay has broken us down.”

“That’s exactly why I need to come.” Gavin’s eyes widened, his chest giving off a warm but bright glow. “Unless the shadow has suddenly added reverse psychology to its repertoire then this is all too real and I can’t just leave you all here when you came to get me. None of you left me here, so I can’t leave any of you here either. Especially Michael. Who knows what the shadow’s putting him through while we’re here talking because he’ll be blaming himself for everything.” He flailed his arms as he spoke before crossing them again as the others stood in silence. “Well? Let’s get a bloody move on!”

Ray’s smile grew, ignoring the others who still seemed to be debating the issue. “Well get your best suit on, Vav and a weapon on your shoulder. Mogar needs some superheroes, right?”

“Nah, I think he needs a creeper.” Gavin grinned back before turning to the others. “So, what do we do?”

Jack looked over once more at the other two who shrugged before sighing. “Alright, Gavin, walk towards the portal but don’t go through it.”

Gavin frowned at him suspiciously but then he realised the others were looking just as confused so this wasn’t planned at all. “Alright…” He walked forward, spinning back round when there was an intake of breath.

“The fuck just happened? Did the shadow get him?” Geoff’s gun was out as he scanned the area where Gavin had just vanished into mid-air.

“No, I got him.” Jack smiled innocently at them. “Just walk forward, one at a time towards the portal.” He waited as one by one the others followed, all disappearing before him until he himself walked through, the others coming back into sight. “What do you think?”

“What did you do?” Ryan just stared in awe, eyes wide and mouth slightly open.

“Well, you took care of the teleporting earlier and it gave me an idea. What if we had a force field of some kind? Nothing big and fancy, mind. Just something that would sever that link that lets us know where everyone else is. I know it would have been kind of counter-productive earlier but now when it’s just whether Michael or the shadow can sense us, seemed like an ideal time to test it.”

“So to them it actually looks like we’ve up and left the dream because we made the effort to come to the portal before you put the, what bubble around us?” Gavin looked up, shuffling slightly as if to test where the edge was.

“Yeah, something like that.” Jack shrugged. “Now that I know it works and all, I might be able to put one on each of us but that feels harder, like I’d have to keep an eye on you all.”

“Maybe we can leave that until later.” Ray hummed thoughtfully. “Like some of us could get into position then you could put one down in that area or something before moving on. After all, they’re not going to know we’re there until the shadow’s getting the shit beat out of him.”

~~~~

“Mark Nuuuuuuuut~!”

Michael looked round as the shadow staggered backwards, howling. He raised an arm instinctively to his chest, pushing back on the wound as he tried to pinpoint the location of the voice. He couldn’t help his eyes widening when Gavin jumped out of a tree, appearing from literally nowhere as his feet reappeared first. Clad in his creeper’esque uniform and a bow and quiver he grinned from ear to ear as he notched another arrow and aimed ready, walking forward slowly. Michael couldn’t help smiling back as shocked as he was, Gavin had come back to get him and had kitted himself out ready, there wasn’t a trace of fear there at all.

“Gavin.” The shadow smiled sickeningly though it was offset by it clutching at its head. It still tried to be in control of the situation however. “You came back for him, did you? How cute. He’s not in a good way though, think I’ve already won so maybe you should stay back.” It was still close to Michael, reaching out a hand to his neck as if to show just how close he was to winning, maybe even use him as a bargaining chip to keep Gavin here and thinking it could be faster than him loosing another arrow.

Another arrow wasn’t needed; three bullets peppering the shadow as it reached down and knocking it back again with a roar. The palm of its hand now had a perfect hole in it, along with the centre of its forehead and where its heart should be, little splinters falling away from it every time it moved, the coloured Michael skin it was wearing falling back into a monochrome distortion with every hit it took.

_“I mean yolo, right?”_ Ray’s voice echoed through the earpiece Michael was still wearing, he could almost feel the mocking shrug he was being given until he turned around and saw Ray himself sauntering in from the distance, the sniper rifle he’d just fired propped against his shoulder as if he had all the time in the world to fire it again if he wanted. Or that he didn’t need to at all anyway. Michael raised an eyebrow, standing up slowly. “Well, if you two are here, I’m guessing the others are too.”

The shadow, realising there weren’t many options made a leap forward, the stump of its arm outstretched straight for Michael’s chest. It gave a grin as Michael raised his sword to block but much too slowly, the sword only held loosely in one hand. A loud clunk resounded as the shadow hit metal which didn’t break or slip from the attack. The grin fading as it realised it was still a good metre away from its target. “What the-?”

“Of course.”

Michael jumped at the voice directly ahead of him, watching Jack materialise with a smirk, the shadows arm stuck deep into his shield as he squatted in front of Michael, a force to be reckoned with. A thought that was accentuated as Jack brought down his hammer, splintering the arm back further, past the elbow.

“Like hell I was going to let you have all the fun. You’d have to be as stupid as dicks to think that was happening.” Geoff slipped in from the side, keeping an eye on the others as Gavin circled the other side of the clearing with him. He wanted to get a few shots on the shadow himself, though he looked about ready to land a few hits in just for the venting it would give. “Good thing we did otherwise I would be kicking your ass, as well, wouldn’t I?” A well-aimed knee to the shadows stomach had it reeling away from him, along with a bullet or two in the legs to keep its speed down.

The shadow gulped, limping away quickly before full on turning and running back the way it’d come from before it entered the clearing, ignoring the holes growing bigger in its legs.

 “It doesn’t seem like he’s knocked any sense into you yet, that’s a pity.” Ryan appeared with a sigh, stepping out of the shadows only exit, leaning on his axe like he didn’t need to use it to overpower the shadow or keep it from running. He glanced over at Michael and then back at the shadow, chuffing. “I don’t actually know anymore who that was aimed at, seems to fit you both quite well.”

“This is a turn of events, isn’t it, shadow?” Michael took a step forward, a vicious smile taking over as he took in the surrounding checkmate his friends had managed to make without even telling him the plan. It was probably better this way. “How does it feel to be completely alone? Surrounded by horrors?” His smile widened. “I hope we’re the nightmares that haunt you because if not we’re about to be.”

“Michael, come on now. You know you can’t- you can’t possibly beat me. I know all kinds of things that I can still use against you-” The shadow babbled on, still skirting around the circle the others had made, trying to stay out of Michael’s reach. It gave into its fear and anger, standing up straight and tall, the façade that looked like Michael all but completely blown apart as it hissed and spat. “You’ll never get rid of me, not completely. I will come back and rip you to shreds. Next time, I won’t give you the chance to fight-”

“Oh fuck off. You didn’t give us a chance. We’re just better than you.” And with that last remark Michael swung forward, satisfied as the sword slid straight through the shadows neck with little resistance. The shadow exploded completely into shards as its head came off, littering them all with tiny marks and scratches, a whirlwind of screams echoing around them. The sounds died down slowly, leaving a calm hush behind, like a breath of fresh air. He took a shaky breath, feeling more than seeing the others gingerly walking in close as if they too couldn’t quite believe what they’d just accomplished.

That is until one of them spoilt it.

“Is that it? Is it over?”

“Is that it? Really, Gavin? After all that, you’re going to ask ‘ _is that it’_?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish I could draw because the images in my head of when they appear ;.; Gav out of the tree, full creeper suit, ray sauntering with a sniper rifle and Jack the knight in armour almost protecting Michael *huffs* I wish there was a way to just print out images in your head as they are because they never work as well on paper.
> 
> Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed and Michael's last comeback was going to be the start of the next chapter but it had be there as a last grumble at Gavin. Kind of felt like, things were returning to normal that way :3  
> Imp x


	15. Let's not wake up, let's build a tower...let's never forget

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aww are people going to miss this? Don't worry theres at least one more chapter after this one...so a little bit more of the adventure yet ;p (tease it~)
> 
> And~ this is a shock to get this out today...me and my Dad may or may not have broken the electric in our house for awhile and therefore the internet *coughs* yeah...we did good today XD

 

 

 “Michael! Stop! I didn’t mean it like that! You know I didn’t.” Gavin screams, that high pitch fake one that he’s trying not to laugh behind as Michael chases him around, the others relaxing and watching them without any hint that they were going to do anything even remotely physical for a while. “Michael!”

“Gavin, you fuck! Get back here. I- _We_ went through all that and all you can say is ‘is that it’? Come here you fuck!” Michael tackles forward, hitting Gavin around the waist until they’re both on the floor and they’re laughing and wrestling and it’s like nothing happened other than a change of scenery and everything else that had passed was being washed away like it was that simple. He straddled Gavin, sitting on top of him with a glare. “Do you know the quest of epic proportions I’ve been on to save your skinny ass?!”

“I meant ‘is it over’, are we finally done with all this, you pleb. I can’t function with making normal sentences that make complete and utter sense and think about what’s good or bad to say when I’m too busy grinning about shooting a demon in the head with a bow and arrow.” Gavin flailed underneath him trying to push him off without much luck. “And who saved who’s ass in the end?”

“Yeah, I didn’t understand half that sentence so I think your brains turned to mush.” Jack laughed, flopping backwards so he’s lying on the floor with a sigh, content to stare at the clouds for a bit.

“Really? I think his brain was already mush before we got here.” Geoff followed suit, leaning again Jack, still wanting to watch around them, slightly suspicious that that wasn’t it, something else was going to bite them in the ass and keep them running. “That and if he really wanted Michael to stop wrestling him to the ground he wouldn’t have added that last comment.”

“Geoff, don’t be mean!” Gavin managed to yell out before Michael made him squawk again. “Michael, stop it!” He pushed against Michael’s chest, freezing along with the others at the painful sound he got in response. “M-Michael?”

“I’m fine; we all got a bit hurt through this, that’s all.” Michael took a long breath, shutting out the pain, before letting himself fall to the side and lying next to Gavin on the floor, trying hard to ignore his worried expression as he leaned over him or the increase in his heart beat as Gavin traced the wounds across his chest. “It’s a dream, I’m sure it’ll be completely gone when I wake up.”

“Just one of those moments when you get hurt in a dream and wake up tingly where it hurt?” Ryan shifts down the tree he was leaning against, spinning the axe in his hand as he did.

“Or like when teeth fall out in dreams?”

Michael managed to force his head back up to stare at Ray with a befuddled expression. “Yeah, exactly. To Ryan that is, I don’t know what the fuck you’re on about, Ray.”

“Hey! It’s a common dream- or nightmare, whatever.”

“Yeah, well as you might have seen I don’t really have common dreams.”

And then they were laughing again, all of them, like everything that happened was just too surreal and this was just another way to handle everything. That laughing was a coping mechanism instead of crying or something equally as embarrassing and it was so weird because in a few hours when they woke up they would be saying ‘it was all just a dream’ and yet it wasn’t. Because a dream implied that you could tell someone about it and it would be so impossible that you knew it couldn’t have been real and relax in the knowledge that your brain was playing mind games with you. But when there were five others to corroborate your story, friends who’d shared in the big terrifying adventure, it was a lot harder to pretend it was all _just a dream_.

“Hey, do you think I should keep it as a cool battle scar for whenever I dream again?”

“Can you do that?”

“Why the hell not?”

“Ow, _fuck._ ”

There was a sudden stillness as everyone looked over at Ray, those laying down propping themselves up to look over, all concerned and realising they hadn’t actually checked if everyone was ok, they’d just assumed with the shadow dead everything would be fine.

Ray looked up, feeling the eyes on him. He gave a sheepish grin and held up a big shard of obsidian for them to see. “Uhm, may have sat on the shadow. Don’t mind me.” He grinned as Michael stood up. “Come on, Michael, it’s fine.”

“Was the shadow being a pain in your ass, Ray?” Geoff smirked at the snort he got from Jack. “But seriously, is everyone OK?”

“Nothing some real rest won’t sort out. How can I feel exhausted in a dream?” Jack grumbled, stretching out like a cat before flopping back down.

“Fuck that, I’m going on a video game binge, going to stay up as long as possible. Real life is looking a lot more inviting than sleep does right about now.” Gavin laughed shaking his head before tugging at Michael’s trouser leg. “Want to join me on that?” He waited for a response but nothing came, making him frown. “Michael?”

“I want to do something quick, do you think you could all move back.” Michael shuffled from foot to foot, taking the shard in Ray’s hands and rolling it around between his fingers. “Just realised the shadow is literally littering my mind at the moment and I somehow feel like that’s not a good thing.”

“But it’s dead.” Ryan pointed out, helping Jack to his feet as he went even if he was arguing.

“I know but well it’s a thing that’s made from dreams and nightmares, who knows if death is as final for it as it is for us.”

“You’re worried that if you ever doubt yourself it’ll come back?” Jack paused for a second, hands on hips. “Are we going to have to watch for you going psycho on us? Or not waking up for ages?”

Michael laughed. “I’m not worried, if I was it’d already be back. I just want to take every precaution necessary, just in case.” He waited until they were out of the clearing, peeking back at him behind the trees. “And if I ever go psycho, I’m sure you guys will come rescue me again, right?” He didn’t wait for a response, instead stretching his hand out and imagining he had some kind of magnet in his palm, pulling in all the small pieces of shadow glass that had exploded out. Watching them shift and fit together to fit into his palm, his other hand came up to crush it into finer pieces, to help it stay together. Once it was all there, he moulded it into a sphere, shivering slightly once he was done because the black orb looked a lot more threatening than it should. A moments thought had him changing the design a bit to incorporate a new idea. “Alright, got it.”

Geoff took the first step forward, grabbing the orb from Michael’s hand and launching it up into the sky before catching it, watching with a sly smile as Michael flinched and flailed at him. “So now what do we do with it?”

“Lock it up tight somewhere, haven’t decided where yet.” Michael huffed, snagging the sphere back, quickly. “Stop it, don’t break it.”

“Why? It’s not like it took you long to make.” Geoff hummed and continued in a singsong voice. “And it’s not a very good prison if I can break it~.”

“Oh! I know!”

Michael and Geoff turned around to Gavin whose arm was stretched up high like he was at school.

“I know what to do with it.” Gavin dropped his hand once he had their attention, instead making grabby hands at the orb that Michael was keeping out of reach.

“Tell me first, then you can have it.” Michael rolled his eyes at him, keeping one arm as far away from Gavin as possible while using a foot to keep him from getting any closer.

“Don’t you trust me, Michael?”

Michael growled as Gavin pouted, the others laughing at his internal dilemma – to carry on like he usually would and shout at him to just tell him already or to trust him because his plan would be more likely to work then.

“Mavin will win out, I can tell.”

Michael huffed, hearing Ray whisper behind him before he held out his hand. “Fine, fuck it, but if it comes after you again I ain’t saving you this time, bud.”

“Of course you would, you’re my boy.” Gavin grinned, taking the orb with obvious care so that Michael could tell he was trying and not just fucking around. He put it on the floor and started building. It became apparent very quickly what he was doing.

“Why are you building a tower of pimps in my head?” Michael groaned, sitting down and giving up.

“I’m marking you as mine.” Gavin stuck his tongue out at the spluttering that ensued. “Joking. It’s what we use to mark when we’ve won something, right? So, it fits, doesn’t it? Having a monument where we beat the shadow so that if you ever worry about it, you can look at the tower and remember ‘hey, that’s the time when we tore that idiot shadow prick apart, I don’t have to worry about that stupid ass ever again. We wiped the floor with it.’”

“Huh.” Michael couldn’t help but agree with that but he wasn’t going to actually admit to agreeing, that would give Gavin too much credit and he couldn’t do that. So instead he focused on the details. “So why the fuck did you need the sphere…thingy so much that you made grabby hands at me instead of making the tower first?”

“Because-” Gavin stood up and took a step back to give his finished tower an appraising look before nodding at it satisfied and kneeling back down next to it. He picked up the orb, tossing it from one hand to the other. “It’s not just going to be a monument.” And without any more preamble he pushed his hand holding the orb through the obsidian block.

“The fuck are you doing?” The others skirted closer, watching in obvious worry that he was going to get his hand stuck.

“It’s going to be the prison too.” Gavin grinned pulling his hand back out sans the orb and dusting himself down. “See it wasn’t obsidian then, now it is.” He knocked on the stone to show that he couldn’t put his hand through it. “So it’ll have to break through that first. Not only that but it gets stronger every time you show any weakness to it, so, a good way to beat that is to lock it in the monument that makes you remember the positive stuff.” He tilted his head, frowning. “Did that make sense?”

“I think so. Because it’s in the tower that’ll always remind Michael of our accomplishment when he sees it, the shadow won’t be able to break through at all.” Jack nodded, clapping his hands. “I’ll admit, you can be smart sometimes, Gavin.”

“Oi!”

“It was a good idea.” Michael nodded, tossing around another orb with a mocking grin. “But then again, I don’t trust you completely, Gavin. So contingency plan: what happens to a shadow when it’s split into two pieces?” He grinned as Gavin pouted at him again. “What? I admitted it was a good idea. But before you even said it I was thinking that having the shadow locked up all in one place is just asking for it to break out again. Whereas if it’s in two, it’ll need to find itself again.” He tossed it in the air again from where he sat, thinking intently. “I’m wondering about the real world…could be fun to have it as a bug in one of our minecraft worlds. It seems to like it.” He pointed around the world they’re in before continuing. “Don’t you think it’d be fun to have a villain for our let’s plays?”

“Fuck no.” Ryan shook his head, shuddering at all the things that could go wrong with that plan.

“Really?”

“Uhh, do you really want it to get out of the game, infest the internet and spread through there?” Jack raised an eyebrow at him, crossing his arms. “I mean it could go god knows where and hurt some poor unsuspecting kid somewhere.”

“That and it wants out of your head, remember? Let’s not give it what it wants, yeah?”

“Oh.” Michael blinked, tilting his head. “I hadn’t thought of that. What about it being a nice paper weight though?” He gives the orb a once over as the others laugh. “No? Aww, I thought it’d look nice on my desk.”

“Let’s not tempt fate. Who knows what would happen if it broke.” Ray shook his head, still laughing. “Though it would be a sweet memento.”

“Then I’ll have half of it in my head.” Gavin, having ignored the conversation in favour of his own thought processes, suddenly held out his hand gesturing for Michael to give it over.

“Then why not break it in to more pieces and we can all have a bit hidden away somewhere? You know, where the others don’t know about and then it’ll make it harder for it to find itself.” Geoff smacked Gavin’s hand down, glaring at him but not commenting on his stupidity. He didn’t like the thought of the shadow living inside of Gavin’s head after all it had done to him, even if it was only a piece.

“Or not because this all just seems like you assume something like this is going to happen again instead of agreeing we’ve done it, we’ve killed it, it’s not coming back. Ever.” Jack crossed his arms, looking at them all in annoyance.

“Contingency plan, remember?”

“What about that other place? The gloomy one through the portal? Is that still part of your head?” Ray piped in quickly, not wanting them to all start arguing.

“Where me and Gavin found each other? No, I think that’s like the in-between space of dreams. Maybe it’s where the shadow came from in the first place.” Michael shrugged, not understanding the meaning of the question.

“So why not build another tower there? Make the place look a little less terrifying, a bit more welcoming and also…” He looked at the others, a determined glint in his eyes. “It could be a warning to any other shadows that exist out there not to mess with us.”

“Huh, I like that plan.” Ryan played with his chin, smiling as he thought about it. “As much as I’d like to think that there’s only one shadow, it’s a bit of a coincidence that it found us, right? So, it’d be good to have a ‘don’t fuck with us’ sign.”

“And then if- wait, can we still dream hop after this or was that the shadow’s doing?” Geoff turned to Michael who shrugged. “Right, we’ll see. But if we can and we ever do this again, because without the shadow this would have been fucking fun, then we’ll have a testament to show how fucking awesome we were that we can all see.”

“Any chance we can have one more adventure, just in case this is the last time before we go?” Gavin spoke up quietly, gaining their attention. He gave a small shrug, not looking at them. “I just don’t feel like this has been fun at all. It’d be nice to know what it could be like without the constant fear of all your worst nightmares being forced on you.” He did glance up then with a soft smile. “Not that kicking the shadows ass wasn’t enjoyable or anything. Did you see that shot?”

Michael looked at the others before grinning. “Yeah it was a great shot, Gavvers. And that depends, do you feel like you’re going to wake up yet?”

Gavin frowned, shaking his head. “No, wait, what will that feel like?”

“It’ll feel like a tug on your consciousness, pulling you back to your own head and stuff.” Michael shrugged, though something was nagging at him. He knew there was something he should tell them but nothing seemed all that important at the moment. Well, not as important as having some fun with his friends in a world they could completely design and remodel to their hearts content. “I mean you can all wake up now, just go through the portal and back to your own dreams and shit and you’ll soon wake up. But if you want to stay and have some fun…that’s fine too.”

“Well, I think we’ve got time for one more adventure…right?”

~~~~

Michael glanced over as Geoff sidled up beside him, a shit eating grin on his face that didn’t bode well. “What?”

“Oh, I just thought I should let you know something, that’s all.” Geoff’s grin widened if it could as he took in Michael’s worried face. “See, we were setting up around your fight for a little while and we were all up for jumping in at one point when we weren’t really ready but then you broke free yourself so Gavin got the shot in when he saw the shadow had his guard down the most and you definitely couldn’t get yourself out of the hole you were in.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “Where is this going? Just trying to tell me ‘we gave you all the chances we could until it looked like you were definitely going to die before we jumped in to save your ass’?”

“Well, it sounds like that when you don’t get the best point.” Geoff slipped closer, putting an arm around his shoulders. “We were there when it started strangling you. We heard what it was saying to you.”

Michael frowned, glancing at him, his defences showing quickly as he tried to shrug off the arm. “Hey, he was talking about the nightmares he’d thrown me into. As much as I’d be happy to talk about them if you asked, I’d rather that you _did_ actually ask instead of bringing it up like this.”

Geoff sighed, his good humour deflating slightly that Michael wasn’t getting the joke but his arm tightened to stop him getting away. “That’s not what I meant. I wouldn’t do that.” He looked around quick to check the others weren’t around before smirking and leaning in again. “I’ll just fucking say it then, you dense prick. Something about ‘Maybe he’ll reciprocate the feelings?’ Or- oh, what was the good one- I remember! That ‘the boy in my dreams was always the boy of my dreams’. And then you, cutie pie got all defensive and angry and broke out of the shadow’s grasp to defend Gavin’s honour. So _adorable,_ _Mikey-Wikey_.” He squished Michael’s cheek before finally pulling away at the hit that was aimed at him. “What? Seems kind of obvious you didn’t know what your feelings were telling you, considering you didn’t know the dream kid was Gavin the whole time.”

“Oh, is that al-OH.” Michael came to sudden halt as it finally clicked what Geoff was saying, he’d just lashed out because it felt like the right thing to do and that shit was embarrassing. The shit eating grin back on his face while Michael could feel his face heating up from the new information. Not only did he have to think about what exactly he felt for Gavin, his friends also now knew his dilemma. “ _Oh_.” He glanced back up at Geoff then over to Gavin who was still wandering ahead with the others before back to Geoff.

“Yeah, he heard too.”

“Oh.” Michael blinked, still standing frozen as he took it all in. _Well, at least he hasn’t been acting awkward with this new development._

“Geoff, what did you do?”

Geoff looked forward at the others with a laugh. “I think I broke Michael.”

“Oh.” Michael nodded to himself, coming to the conclusion that if Gavin hadn’t said anything, he wouldn’t either. At least not until they were both awake and couldn’t blame their reactions on dreaming and he’d had time to think everything through for himself.

That thought process lasted about two seconds though before he realised that Gavin was dragging him by the hand away from Geoff and the others were all exchanging glances with small knowing smiles.

_Fuck, I’m doomed._

_~~~~_

Time passed, though it was hard to tell in a dream. What felt like hours, days might only be minutes in the real world. The only consolation they could find was that Gavin’s sleeping pills should have worn off by now so if his body was still resting then it was a good thing either way, no matter how long it took for him. That and they could all use the rest after the ordeal they’d been through; they just hoped no one was worried about them outside of the world they’d created. But adventures were to be had and it all just seemed a little bit irrelevant as they battled through castles to meet the princess, scurried through the woods hunting bandits and found out that Jack had built himself a little cabin when no one had been watching (Ryan had made an Edgar hole but Michael deleted it quickly just at the thought of there being an imprisoned Edgar in his own god damned head for Christ sakes).

But soon they found themselves drawn back to the portal, felt that little pull that told them it was time to go back to their own heads and wake up and get back to reality. It was almost disappointing after all they’d done.

“We’ll work it out and do it again sometime if you guys really want to.” Michael laughed at the sudden sombre atmosphere as they erected the final tower of pimps. “Come on guys! We just saved the world. Albeit it was a dream world inside my head- does that mean you guys saved me from losing my mind? Who knows, but we rescued the Prince and captured the castle.” He hit Gavin on the back, cackling at the squawk and glare he got. “And now you get to wake up and go back to your normal lives that people would kill for.”

“Wait, what do you mean ‘you’?” Geoff narrowed his eyes at him, ignoring the incessant pull that was dragging him back now slowly against his will. There was only so much that you could fight waking up after all.

“Oh yeah. I forgot to tell you guys that, didn’t I?” Michael gulped at the glares he was now getting, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Now with sudden clarity he remembered what had been important to tell them this whole time. “See, the shadow knocked me out of my dream and back to real life so I had to do something to get back into the dream.”

“Just cut the crap. What did you do?” Jack took an involuntary step back, glaring at his own feet before back at Michael.

“I took another dose of the tea.”

“Tea? What does that have to do with all this?”

“Shut up, you British idiot. It’s not normal tea.” Geoff rolled his eyes before looking at Michael worried. “I know you said there were no side effects but you and Griffon worked out the doses precisely so that we’d only need the one dose for, a what? 8 hour sleep? What will a double dose of that do?”

Michael shrugged. “Hopefully nothing except give my ‘mental wounds’ time to heal.” He gestured down to the now almost healed scars on his chest. “So it’ll just take some more time.”

“And what if we’ve wasted all this time and you basically took the equivalent of an overdose of sleeping pills? God damn it, Michael!” Everyone jumped as Ray shouted, not used to the anger he was displaying. “Why the hell didn’t you just tell us when we were done with the shadow?”

“Because-” Michael gulped, looking around for an answer that he didn’t really have. It just hadn’t seemed important; he hadn’t thought of it that way at all. That he might just not wake up from all of this. Did that make this a coma dream? Maybe because his friends had already been in it that was why he could keep a hold on it being a dream still unlike all those stories you hear about people thinking their coma dreams are reality. He looked over and saw Gavin looking at him in worry and he couldn’t help but smile and say the first thing that came to him. “Gavin wanted an adventure.” Michael shook his head quickly when Gavin started to look guilty and splutter incoherently. He knew what he wanted to say – he wouldn’t have asked for something that selfish if he had known, or if it was between saving his boy and fucking around he’d have picked differently, but he already knew all that. He didn’t have to _say_ it. “And if you’re right…well then, I guess I wanted one more adventure too.” And with that he pushed forwards with his hands, helping the pulling motion that was being exerted on all of them and finally had a foothold to drag them back to their own dreams kicking and screaming. He couldn’t help but laugh; hours ago they would have run from his dream without a minutes notice if they were all going together but now they didn’t want to leave. The smile became sad but accepting as he then noted they weren’t all leaving, they were leaving him behind so of course they didn’t want to go.

“Goodbye lads.”

Gavin turned around one more time to see his Michael, smiling and waving as he tried to get a hold on anything to keep him from being sucked away. “Michael!”

“Bye, Gavin.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

So~ I tried to do some drawings after what I said in last chapter but I'm really bad so >.> I'll put them here and run away quickly. I also for got things now I've put it up *headdesks* like a door handle for christs sake XD Two versions because I couldn't decide on the glowy chest light or not~           

 

 

 

 

 

ANYWAY *COUGHS* IGNORE THEM. SERIOUSLY. OH! BTW is anyone going to the London MCM expo in October? Just wondered if I'll be seeing anyone there :3 ♥ imp

There's some pictures going up on my tumblr of my costume when I have time/make more. So far theres just a picture of my boots XD Might put them up here too if people interested? It's Roosterteeth reelated after all...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mwahaha~ One last little cliffhanger? ;p 
> 
> And now I feel like I shouldn't have put the pics up ._.;; eep~ If anyone has anything they've drawn that will be far superior, please send? if it's easier then on tumblr I'm either michi-nii (personal) or impishnature (writing and stuffs)
> 
> What did I want to put here...oh yeah, uhm when I proof read this the first comments Gavin made about 'complete sentences' really didn't make sense because I must have been tired when I wrote it so I had to change...was tempted to keep old version in but XD  
> Oh god I've had too much fun with this ;.; why do I always get sad when the stories end?
> 
>  
> 
> Edit: OH! I forgot. I said I'd grump. Yeah, writing this chapter may have fueled nightmares *glares at it* God damn it why did I make Ray talk about teeth falling out dreams?! ;.; Last nights wake up call was not wanted *huffs*


	16. The Shadow has lifted...Game over? Restart?...New Game?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Question~ Would artwork be put into a seperate chapter at the back or does no-one mind me putting it in between chapters/at the bottom of this one? ♥
> 
> Sorry it took awhile, I drew four out of five drawings until today haha that and well...dreams were not leaving me alone and it felt odd to write about them ;p
> 
> HOMG it's the end ;.; dnw~

 

 

Michael blinked awake with a groan. He had no idea what the time was or how long he’d been asleep but he felt terrible. His head seemed clogged up with cotton wool and his chest felt heavy, which made him worry whether the wounds could affect him in real life too. He could feel all the dreams he’d had swimming up to meet him as his eyes fought to stay awake, as if his mind was trying to confuse what was dream and reality to help his mood all the more. He could remember the others had reappeared again after he’d made them all wake up but he didn’t know if they’d been imaginary or not. Their anger had definitely seemed real enough though and so had the laughs they’d shared once they’d got it out of their systems. He frowned as a new thought emerged. Had he actually woken up? It definitely felt like it but then again he couldn’t be sure. He took a quick glance at his surroundings, his frown deepening. “Why am I in Gavin’s bed?” His voice took him by surprise, loud in the silent room and he couldn’t help but wince. _I didn’t fall asleep here…is this my brain trying to tell me it’s all fake still?_ He could feel his heart sinking into his stomach. He’d really hoped this would be it, that he’d finally woken up out of that shithole and was ready to face the world again.

“Michael?”

Michael froze at the muffled mumble. He lifted his head off the pillow slowly, glancing down the bed. _Oh. That’s why my chest feels heavy then._ Gavin looked back up from where he had been using Michael as a cushion, rubbing the sleep out of his eye with a yawn, one hand still laying on Michael’s chest. “You were asleep?”

“Well, I didn’t know when you were going to wake up so at least I could spend time with you in your coma dream.” Gavin smiled sleepily, resting his head back down. “Not that it was a coma dream I guess as you’ve woken up now.”

“I have? Really?” Michael couldn’t help the words slipping out as he took another glance around.

“Of course you have, you pleb. You really think this is all a dream still?” Gavin gave a half-hearted chuckle before realising Michael was serious and not convinced, he was tense under him and still looking suspiciously around the room. “Michael?” When he didn’t get a response he reached out a hand, squeezing Michael’s shoulder and getting a small jump. “Hey, bud. It’s ok, honest. You’re safe and sound at home.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about something happening to.” Michael winced again as the words slipped out; it wasn’t his fault his thoughts had gone to his own nightmare where Gavin and he had been in his own bed given the circumstances but he decided now was not the time for that titbit of information to be out in the open. “Uhm, I mean I’m not safe and sound at home. I’m in your bed. What’s with that?”

Gavin gave him a look but realised it was better not to push it. Instead he shook his head and laughed. “What? Did you expect us to just leave you on the sofa? We didn’t know how long you were going to sleep for so we moved you here.”

Michael nodded, absently, letting the words sink in and relax him. _You’re awake, everything is fine. You beat the shadow, nothing’s going to suddenly jump out at you, you twat._ “How long was I out?” Michael went to sit up but found his body wasn’t responding yet, making a feeble attempt like an upside down turtle much to Gavin’s amusement. “Ugh, how can I feel so terrible when I’ve slept for so long?” He finally gave up on moving with a huffy whine.

“You were out for three days.” Gavin kept a steady hand on Michael’s chest as his eyes went wide and he went to sit up again, it wouldn’t do for him to hurt himself. “ _And_ you feel terrible because you took an overdose, you twonk.”

Michael grumbled but he let Gavin push him back down, it was easier in the long run. “Three days? Wow, I bet you were all pissed at me.” He gave a grin at Gavin’s glare.

“We were. But then once the paramedic was here- you were unconscious and had just admitted to an overdose, what did you expect us to do?” Gavin raised an offended eyebrow as Michael’s amusement slipped into a glare. “Anyway once they were here, it became kind of funny. I mean after everything that had really happened you know? Everything that we all did together, we suddenly had to lie and make it sound so much more normal than it actually was.” He couldn’t help chuckling at the memory. “It was so _us_. Even Griffon said she was half convinced by the bullshit we fed everyone.”

“Alright, alright, just tell me already.” Michael rolled his eyes at Gavin’s antics. He could almost feel him buzzing beside him.

“That we had had a few bevs and that Griffon had bought this stuff to help her sleep and that us being us in our tipsy states thought it was all bullshit. And so I had had the great idea of betting you to drink some then and not fall asleep and you had agreed. So we mixed it all up because we thought if one was bullshit they all were and then when you didn’t fall asleep after the first cup we played double or nothing.”

“Holy shit and they believed you?”

“What? You think they would have believed ‘I was in a coma because a nightmare creature had kidnapped me and so that my friends could dream hop they took this weird crap and when one of them woke up accidentally they thought an overdose was the best thing to do to come save the day and all’?” Gavin raised an eyebrow. “Do you think going into the details of everyone’s nightmares – if they would even entertain the possibility of sharing – would have made us more or less likely to all have been shipped off to a loony bin for mass hysteria?”

“Well when you put it that way, I guess it is a pretty good story.” Michael laughed. “I guess I was just surprised at how easily the lie had worked.”

Gavin shrugged. “We found it weird too but then again, everything sounds weird when the truth is suddenly so impossible you can’t tell anyone about it.” He smiled softly. “So yeah, we had fun making a scene, Geoff was shouting at me for making the bet but more annoyed at you for taking it. We made up for the time lapse. Everyone just thought you’d lost and gone to sleep so it wasn’t until after you hadn’t woken up for a while that anyone realised there was a problem.”

“It really does sound weird. Like I can see it happening but…” Michael shook his head. “I guess…I kind of like the real story more. How is everyone else by the way?”

“Been a bit jumpy at points.” Gavin shrugged. “Mostly OK though. Ryan was the first to go home, he wanted to see his family I think, which is understandable. I mean as soon as Geoff had checked we were all OK he was out of the room checking up on Griffon and Millie. Ray and Jack stayed for that first night but then they went and told everyone at work what had happened so they didn’t worry. We’ve all been in and out but no-one’s really expecting us to be, well, _us_ with you bedridden and all.” Gavin hummed thoughtfully. “Ray seemed the most down when we woke up, Griffon was asking questions about what happened but I think we’re all getting there and Jack just seemed relieved that we were all actually awake.”

“And what about you?”

“Me?” Gavin blinked before his smile widened. “Well, even if I’ve been sleeping on a sofa or like this I think I’ve had the best sleeps in forever.” He gave a stretch, pulling himself up into a proper sitting position. “Not just because of the adventures we’ve had since but because I don’t have to worry about what might happen if I fall asleep now, I get to actually rest now and then. It feels top.”

They sat in silence for a bit, content with the situation and just not knowing what else to say. It wasn’t awkward though; just peaceful which was definitely something Michael never thought he’d attribute to anything to do with Gavin. With a sudden dawning comprehension though, Michael groaned and hit his head back against the pillow making Gavin flinch upright with a worried expression, bending over the bed to check over him with one hand already placed on Michael’s forehead.

“Michael? Oh god, I should have asked if _you_ are ok. Do you need more rest? Or some food? I mean you haven’t eaten in like 3 days-” Gavin went into panic mode, his brain listing off everything that could be wrong.

“No, Gavin. Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you, fuck.” Michael laughed, shoving Gavin’s hand away before his expression turned serious again. “Just thinking how much fun Ray’s going to have.” He coughed before trying to imitate the other as Gavin looked on perplexed, still close above him as if waiting for the bomb shell he was about to drop. “‘So guess what? Mavin have let slip they’ve been dreaming about each other’ Or ‘so Michael’s been sleeping in Gavin’s bed for the last 3 days if anyone’s wondered where both of them have been’. It’s not _funny_ , Gavin, he’s going to make our lives hell.” He huffed as Gavin blinked at him before dissolving into a fit of giggles.

“Sorry Michael, I assumed you were about to tell me something serious.” Gavin looked up again at Michael’s annoyed face. “Oh come on, who cares right at this moment? You’re my boy, Michael. My little Michael, my Mogar.” He leant forward, right next to Michael’s ear. “My hero.” He sat back, grinning from ear to ear as Michael started to blush.

“Shut it you sappy shit. How about the other side then? That I also caused this whole problem to begin with, then gave you the shittiest advice I could have and then failing in my first- and second depending on what you count- rescue attempts.” Michael rubbed his face, trying to ignore his burning ears or that Gavin had caused a shiver down his spine when he’d whispered.

“Yeah but you rescued me in the end, that’s what matters.” Gavin shrugged, flopping back onto the bed, his arms crossed and head lying on top as he watched Michael, a dopey smile on his face as if reminiscing. “Which was a bloody top rescue by the way.”

“Yeah, well it wasn’t just me, you weren’t exactly the damsel-in-distress were you?”

“No I wasn’t but then again, I couldn’t let you have all the fun parts, right?” Gavin grinned. “And as I said I can really appreciate what a good night’s sleep feels like, I don’t think it’s ever felt as good as this.” He stood up, quickly turning before he said his next few words, hoping the blush he was feeling was now not visible as he planned his words carefully. “As for causing this whole problem as you put it…I’ll always remember the first time I saw the shadow and just thought it was a lonely little boy, a kid I wanted to make friends with. Now I’ve had time to think about it, I think that was you I saw, not it, and you that drew me in. But then I opened my big gob and the shadow noticed me. So it’s not all your fault.”

“It wasn’t the only one, I noticed you too. I just wanted a friend and then you came along out of nowhere.” Michael didn’t say anything about the shadow’s derogatory ‘first crush’ comments and was glad when Gavin didn’t either, though now that the confession sat there between them without him even having to come to terms with his first crush being his now best friend, he felt kind of comfortable with the situation.

“Yeah, right, I think the sleep depravity or I don’t know, suddenly both of us getting a fuck ton of sleep has melted our brains to sap. So I’m going to get you some food and stuff.” Gavin gestured wildly around himself as he spoke, still not looking back at Michael. He could feel a little part of himself was missing now, even if the ordeal was over and he should just be completely relieved.

“Hey, Gavin?”

He paused at the door, looking back. “Yeah?”

“You think even though this is done with now… I could still come visit? Like dream hop and stuff. The last few days have been kind of nice, us adventuring.” Michael looked Gavin straight in the eye, trying not to talk himself out of this. “It’s not like I’m going to kidnap you again or anything, in case you’re worried.”

Gavin stared for a second before grinning, the balance restoring inside him at the question. He’d actually thought that Michael might give up his dream hopping now everything was over and done with, that maybe he needed a rest from it all. He hadn’t expected him to broach the subject first. “I guess we could, I mean I have to keep an eye on my tower of pimps, don’t I?”

Michael rolled his eyes. “Of course you do. What would I do without you keeping an eye on me not going crazy? I guess Team Neighbourhood watch could use a revamp.”

“Not Team Nice Dynamite?”

Gavin looked crestfallen enough that Michael laughed loudly. “Nah, I’d rather not blow my mind up from the inside out thanks and knowing our luck, that’s what we’d do. No dynamite or lava for that matter is allowed inside my brain matter, you got it?”

“I guess I can live with that.” Gavin shuffled out of the room with a happy hum to go make food, or bribe someone else to.

Michael let himself unwind completely, smiling brightly that Gavin had agreed. He’d been nervous about asking, worried that Gavin would shout at him for even contemplating it or worse hate him for bringing up everything that had happened and ruin the moment. But something in his expression had made him doubt himself on that account. He didn’t know what but Gavin almost seemed disappointed that their great adventure had ended so he’d just blurted it out. He could feel the smile turning goofy. Who knows? Maybe he’d finally pluck up the courage to ask some other questions as well.

“Hey, was that the little shit I heard? Is the asshole finally awake?”

Michael groaned, pulling the duvet up over his head as Geoff’s annoyed voice brought him back from his thoughts sharply. He could tell he was in for the biggest lecture he’d ever had and that it wouldn’t end until everyone had had a chance to tell him exactly how they felt even though they’d done so already in the dreamscape. But then again, he guessed it was the least he deserved. And he was sure about one thing now if Gavin’s response was anything to go by.

They’d soon forgive him once their next nightly adventure started.

 

~~~~

 

Now for some artsy stuffs :3

For chapter 14 (bluestrawberryiii)-

Well _we_ did order a castle...

 

For chapter 15 (scifigeek14) - ~~Ok for some reason not letting me upload the other 2...will try again on diff pc :/ apologies~~ **YAY**

     

 

And my own...silly doodle things ^^; I might play with them on pc at some point but for now have the sketches? ♥ Again chapter 15 things~

~~-Coming soon because my internet hates me XD-~~

         

Finally~ Anywho, actually kind of proud of the Ryan one XD Bit annoyed at Gavin and Jack ones *huffs* but well thought I'd throw them up as I did them ^^;

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God this went...sappy XD but ending had to have something~ apologies to anyone who wanted proper Mavin ending but this fitted better to me ^^;
> 
> So I have a little idea for more but nothing big :/ I mean it's not really an end afterall is it? Dreams are dreams, they come back and all but we can't have same story over and over...but well if anyone has some more prompts or anything I'd be happy to try :3 I just have other fics to get back to so I may take a while ^^;
> 
> I wanna thank Noelle ♥ for the awesome prompt, you should all def go see her tumblr diveintotheragehappy.tumblr.com and I just realised the link is above but ;p I can do it twice~
> 
> Also thanks again to bluestrawberryiii and scifigeek14 for the awesome art ;.; it's the first time I've had people do that for me ♥ *hugs* I'm glad you liked the story that much!
> 
> And thanks for all the comments in general you're all the best :3 *hugs you all*
> 
> Right I should stop being a sappy little idiot XD Take care and all that, imp x


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